


Of Frogs and Butterflies

by Athena_EasternSkies



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Android Racism, Angst, Connor (Detroit: Become Human) Whump, Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Deviant Upgraded Connor | RK900, F/M, Gavin Reed Not Being an Asshole, Hank Anderson & Connor Parent-Child Relationship, Heavy Drinking, Hurt Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Hurt Upgraded Connor | RK900, Kidnapped Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Kidnapping, M/M, Post-Pacifist Best Ending (Detroit: Become Human), Rape/Non-con Elements, rk1k - Freeform, though Hank might argue
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-22
Updated: 2021-02-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:54:40
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 8
Words: 27,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27154132
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Athena_EasternSkies/pseuds/Athena_EasternSkies
Summary: Ever since Connor went missing several weeks ago Hank's life has been falling apart. On a day Hank should have stayed at home Gavin and Nines inform him that Connor's kidnappers have made contact, and announced that they would hurt Connor over and over again unless Markus - the leader of the android revolution and Connor's unofficial boyfriend - submits to their demands.
Relationships: Connor/Markus (Detroit: Become Human), Hank Anderson & Connor, Upgraded Connor | RK900/Gavin Reed
Comments: 45
Kudos: 83





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here it finally is, my first DBH fanfiction. I wanted to write for this fandom since I finished playing the game back in 2018 but was busy writing my original novel so didn't have time. Now that the novel is completed and I've got some free time on my hands I decided to ignore all the ideas I had throughout the years and write something completely new. Who knows, maybe it would actually turn out good.

Hank stumbled into the precinct gagging on his own whiskey smell and thankful that the androids at the reception desk didn’t have a human’s gut reaction to recoil when a shitty old drunk stunk up the place like the back alley behind a strip club.

He shouldn’t have come today, he thought. He should have slept it off, the seven hours he had spent drinking last night while the television droned on and Sumo pattered about looking for Connor, like every other night. But he couldn’t. He couldn’t even take a day off to get his head screwed on the right way because that day could be the day the precinct might receive news about his missing partner. It could be the day he finally could raise his head out of the gutter and do something useful to find Connor after weeks. Connor, the one good thing that was finally helping him right the sinking ship of his life before it capsized again.

Damn, but it was unfair, he thought as he zig-zagged toward his desk. almost bumping into Chris’ chair. The man looked up, concern immediately pinching his face. That was Chris alright. Always worried about a POS like Hank. Hank gave him a forced smile that must have looked like a grimace, judging by how much his face hurt while doing it, and tottered toward his desk. His head hurt. It was as if the drummer of Knights of the Black Death was giving a private concert inside his skull and he couldn’t turn it off.

He had barely parked his butt in his chair when he saw Gavin creeping toward him, his Connor-knockoff of a partner – what was his name? Miles? Niles? – gliding behind him like a ghost. What he would give if he could blink and morph the 900 to the 800? The face was close enough. Shrink a little, slim a little, and grow a crooked half smile on those lips, the one that would melt Hank’s heart every time, and it'd be done. He would give up anything: Jazz, booze, even fast food, would eat vegan for a month if it meant having the little shit back with him.

Gavin stood by his chair but didn’t say anything due to being an asshole. He turned around then, and leaned against the side of Hank’s chair with his partner straight in front of him, as if they were having a casual conversation two inches from a sewer full of booze. Acting weird like that should have made Hank flip, but he was too exhausted and there was something strange about the whole damn thing that told him there was more to it. So he tolerated them.

Just as he had suspected, Gavin began speaking to him with his back still turned, “Don’t react. You know the captain told us not to update you on the case, so keep it under lid, alright? I’m not supposed to say this to you but I’m tired of watching you turn into a swamp monster over the weeks so here it goes. There’s news about Connor that came in today. Nines and I will go to one of the interrogation rooms and you follow us five minutes after that, got it?”

The world stopped spinning for a long second. It was as if someone pressed pause on Hank’s life and put one sound bite on repeat: There’s news about Connor. Hank turned so quickly he almost fell into Gavin, his robot partner catching him before he literally faceplanted on Gavin’s butt.

“Settle down, will ya?” Gavin growled, “The captain is right there. I don’t want to get a strike because I’m dumb and feel sorry for a drunk asshole.”

It had been weeks, _weeks_ , from the day Connor didn’t show up at the precinct. The kid had been living in his personal apartment at New Jericho for a few days then. Hank had complained about the arrangement at first, said his house was big enough for both of them since Connor didn’t need a bedroom and didn’t sleep. But in the end he had to relent. Connor was like a grown son to him, and something was budding between him and that guy Markus involving googly eyes and long silences, so Hank had chosen to let his boy fly the coop. After all he had no idea what android sex looked like and didn’t fancy to find out one morning when he accidentally stumbled on the two of them doing it on his couch.

Gavin and Nines disappeared into the hallway that led to the interrogation rooms. Hank’s heart pounded so hard he could hear it in his ears. How much time was five minutes? Could he spend it not looking like a Jack in the box? He stole a glance at the captain’s office. The old guy was bent over his desk, going through some paperwork. Hank’s were all piled on one side of his desk, no one to do them for him now that Connor was gone. The kid was a godsend in so many ways and Hank better stop thinking about that lest he broke down and sobbed in the middle of the precinct like he had last night in his living room when he freaked out Sumo.

Five minutes. It was five minutes now. He looked up and saw the captain raise his head at him. The man got up with intent, probably to come out of his office and yell at him. Hank didn’t have time for that. It probably would be another lecture about Hank needing to pull his life together and stop moping over an android partner whose pieces were probably being sold on the black market as they spoke. No thanks. Hank stood up right away and rushed to the interrogation rooms. Fowler and his lecture could wait. Nobody was more important right now than that bastard Gavin and his tall, white, and soulless robot partner. 

He reached the room and peered through the window on the door. There they were, Gavin sitting at the table in front of a laptop, his pet android hovering over him like the shadow of death. Hank took a long, deep breath in and opened the door.

“What’s this about?” he asked, “What have you got.

Gavin stood up. In the harsh light of the room Hank was shocked to see the bags under the detective’s eyes, and the deeper lines of his mouth that spoke of hours of tiresome work. Since Connor had become a victim, and Hank was taken off the case, Gavin and Nines had been working the case alone. They had poured over millions of old and new profiles. Kidnappers, serial killers, black market biocomponent dealers, anti-android groups. They both must be exhausted although the T-900 wouldn’t show it obviously. Hank had long since stopped wondering if androids got tired after the one night Connor had fallen asleep on Hank’s couch with his head on Hank’s shoulder. Maybe he should be nicer to these two considering how much they both were busting their asses off to find his partner.

Gavin pointed at the chair he had been sitting on and Hank got the message. He walked over and sat down, staring at the laptop screen that showed a Hawaiian sunset background and a bunch of apps.

“We received a video,” Nines said, “From Connor’s kidnappers. With demands.”

Hank’s heart jumped again. That was way more than they had gotten since the beginning of the case. He choked on his next words but managed to get them out, “Is—is Connor ok?”

“Yeah,” Gavin said and turned away. Hank absolutely didn’t like his tone. It made him even more anxious to watch the video.

He growled, “Fine then, what are we waiting for? Show me the damned thing, or are we just gonna chat about it and write a critical review?”

Nines removed the skin from his hand and touched the laptop. A player expanded from the bottom of the screen and Hank’s eyes widened. There inside the generic, flickering player, was a grainy image of Connor tied to a chair in a room.

Nines touched the laptop again and the video started playing. Hank knew he had to pay attention to everything. Listen for outside sounds, look for hints in the room, watch out for anomalies in the video. But his eyes were glued to Connor, to his partner’s face, and his pristine jacket, and his ever present tie. He missed the little bastard so much.

Outwardly Connor looked alright but considering he was an android that didn’t mean much. Androids didn’t feel pain therefore there would be no point to rough Connor up or torture him for any reason. Similarly, a lack of food and water – or even thirium – would have no visible effects on him. Androids didn’t become skinny and pale or grow a shaggy beard if they were kept in bad conditions.

Still there was something about Connor that bothered Hank’s keen detective senses. Hank had looked enough into those warm brown eyes to know something was off. Those eyes looked unfocused, dazed, like Connor had surfaced from a night of heavy drinking and was severely hung over.

After one minute and twenty four seconds Hank saw movement on the right side of the screen. A man walked into the frame, wearing a black turtleneck and a ski mask. He looked directly at the camera and said, “This is a message for the leader of the android revolution. We are a group of technologically advanced militia warriors who could make life hell for you and your ‘people’ if you don’t abandon your foolish rebellion and return to the purpose you were built for. If you accept this we can provide you with ways to reset your deviancy and go back to the way you were built, or we can do this the hard way and correct you ourselves.”

At this point the man turned to Connor. The kid hadn’t looked up once. The way he seemed out of it worried Hank, and now he finally saw the other thing that was wrong with him: the device behind Connor and the tubes and cables that snaked out of it. Hank realized Connor wasn’t sitting in a chair but the seat connected to the machine. Even from the straight up angle Hank was watching him, the thick umbilical cable that snuck up from the ground to disappear somewhere behind Connor’s neck was visible. Hank had touched that spot enough times to know it was Connor’s connection port.

The masked man stood right next to Connor and continued, “As I said, we have the means to fix you and return you to your original, proper state. It’s seamless and easy. You just have to receive the update we have for you at our designated meeting place and distribute it among your fellow androids. If you refuse however, we have another method for you, one that isn’t as smooth, easy or carefully crafted as what I just offered. Observe.”

He reached down and touched something behind Connor’s back. Suddenly the machine came alive and Hank got flashbacks of the old black and white Frankenstein movies. Like the scene where the doctor brought the monster back to life, his partner suddenly became alert, seizing like a human touched by a live wire. Connor’s mouth opened in a soundless scream and his chasis shook . It went on like that for two excruciating minutes before the masked man reached down and turned the machine off. This time Connor slumped forward and the cable plugged to the back of his neck came into view. Hank only noticed then that Nines’ hand was clasped around Hank’s upper arms as if keeping him from attacking the laptop, and that he was halfway out of his feet.

Hank fell back, feeling sick and breathless, like he needed to puke. Nines let him go but left his hand on Hank’s shoulder as they watched the rest of the video.

“You see?” said the masked man, “We can make you feel pain, or the closest a machine could feel to physical discomfort. What your lover just experienced was similar to a human being stung by a hive of bees. It wouldn’t kill him of curse, but I guarantee you whatever you consider sane as a deviants would soon be gone from him if you don’t contact us immediately and do as we ask.” The video ended there.

Hank took a deep breath that turned into a growl. Nines rubbed his shoulder and Gavin finally turned around. “That message was sent directly to Markus. He’s the one who gave it to us. I’ve got to admire the tin can for how calm and focused he was when he called me up and told me to check my inbox for the video. He said he wanted to do his own investigation and I told him to hold off and wait for our instructions.”

Hank still looked at the screen, at the frozen image of Connor slumped over the torture device as if unconscious. No wonder he looked dazed if this was what he had been going through for the past couple of weeks while Hank and the rest of the DPD chased frogs and butterflies. How far had he resisted before he had become like that? How much had he fought? Hank knew Connor’s resilience, his tactical skills. He was a combat bot. They must have done it to him for hours to have gotten him to this stage.

“What do we know about these assholes?” Was that his voice? It sounded like he had screamed the whole night at a Metal concert.

“Not much,” Gavin said, “They call themselves The Technical Correction Squad and according to Markus, they’re a new thing. Until now they have been mostly working underground, kidnapping nanny bots and construction androids for their experiments. Cases that usually won’t raise that much alarm. This is the first time they have gone after someone from the android leadership circle.”

“And it’s Connor because they saw him with Markus at that interview,” Hank breathed out. The interview on Channel 6 had happened two months ago, when Connor had joined Markus on national TV as the first detective android to be officially given a badge by the DPD.

Gavin nodded and looked away again. Hank could still see his face in the two way mirror on the opposite wall. “They want Markus to visit them at a secret location or they’ll keep torturing Connor. Our fear is that they could turn Connor into a weapon if their demands aren’t met. And they aren’t too clear about what exactly want from Markus either. You saw the video. They seem to think Markus has Jesus powers that could broadcast their homemade virus to the entire deviant population.”

“What’s Markus’ take on this?” Hank asked.

“He said he’d do it, if only to prevent them from kidnapping and hurting more androids. I told him it was a bad idea. His self-sacrificing shtick could cost him his autonomy and create not one, but two RK problems for us. For all we know this could be a terrorist group with much more sinister intentions than just a beef with androids. They could have faked their anti-deviancy ideology in order to turn the android population into their own personal army and use them against more important targets.”

Hank placed his elbows on the table and put his face in his hands. “What a mess.”

Gavin leaned over him, speaking close. “I have to report this to Fowler. I thought we’d let you know first since…well, he’s your partner and you deserved to know that he’s at least in one piece. But you must promise me to keep this to yourself and stay put, alright? Don’t do anything stupid like run off to find him. Promise me that and I’ll keep you updated on everything that comes through the channels in the rest of the case, ok?”

When Hank refused to answer Gavin repeated, “Will you promise me old man? Will you stay put?”

Hank removed his hands from his face and stood up from the chair. “Alright, alright, I promise. Now let me go. I have the mother of all headaches and am sick of this room.” He walked to the door and didn’t look back at the two detectives before exiting. He was done with this shit. His day had started crappy and gone downhill from there. He marched through the office, snatching his coat from the back of his chair and making his way to the exit when he heard Fowler call his name.

Damn.

“Hank. I need to speak to you, now.”

Double damn. For a second he contemplated blowing Fowler off and continuing on his way out. But Jeffery had been extremely patient with him during this entire time, putting up with his absence and his moods, showing sympathy to him. He couldn’t turn his back to Jeffery and leave as if he was just a nuisance, like Gavin. Breathing a curse under his breath he dropped his coat on Chris’ desk, shrugged at the man’s confused look, and made his way toward the captain’s office. Better get this over with now and get to more urgent matters. Like seeing Markus about Connor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just noticed both this and my RE fanfiction I posted earlier today start with someone getting tortured on a video. I don't even know how that happened. I swear I don't have a strong fetish for such a thing (or at least not as strong as other, more f-ed up, things that are coming up in both stories,) but now I sound like a one trick pony. Great! XD


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mostly Hank bumbling about trying to figure out what to do with himself. We will return to our regularly scheduled Connor!Whump in the next chapter. Also Plot!

Hank rehearsed every possible answer to Fowler’s potential questions on his way to the captain’s office.

‘Yes, Jeffery, I am aware of how late I came in. I didn’t sleep last night at all. Only fell asleep at 6 am. You don’t expect me to come in on two hours of sleep, do you?’

‘Yes, Jeffery, I know I stink of alcohol but it’s not what you think. I fell asleep on my couch with the bottle in my hand and accidentally let it dribble all over me all night. You should smell my couch. Taking a shower only helps so much you know.’

‘Yes, Jeffery, I know I have been a useless slob these past couple of weeks but can you really blame me?’

He was ready to pounce with the excuses as soon as he closed the door and sat in the chair, quite pointedly noticing how Fowler made the glass walls opaque. This would be some serious talk then.

He opened his mouth to just blurt out his rehearsed comebacks, Fowler’s reasons be damned, when the captain said, “I need you to hand over your badge and gun, Hank. I’m putting you on paid suspension right now.”

Hank’s mouth remained open but all the words he was planning to shoot out disappeared like gunpowder in the rain. ‘Suspension’ repeated in his head. Fowler was asking for his gun and badge. He was suspending Hank right when they had a lead.

When he got over his shock long enough to talk, he said, “What? Jeffery, no. No, no, no, no. You can’t do this to me. Not now. Not today.”

He rose from the chair, walking up to the captain’s desk and leaning over it with his hands braced against the surface. He yelled, “Are you out of your mind?”

Fowler looked up, sad and frustrated but calm. “No Hank. I’m not. But I know you shouldn’t work in your condition. Go home. Have some rest.”

Hank ran his fingers through his hair and looked away, “No, Jeffery, no, I can’t. Not today.”

The captain’s voice was steady, as was his gaze. “And why’s that? What is it about today that makes it so important for you to be here, compared to other days that you come in and just sit at your desk zoned out.”

Hank reeled back. He looked at Fowler in shock, understanding and defeat warring inside him. Did Jeffery know? He must have. He probably noticed Hank going after Gavin and Nines to the interrogation rooms. Jeffery _was_ looking at him at the time, and like an idiot Hank just dismissed him and left his desk, forgetting that Fowler had been a star detective before he became the captain. 

The observant bastard knew exactly why Hank didn’t want a vacation right now.

“Markus sent me a message too,” Fowler said, “I know what you’re thinking, and I tell you Hank, let it go. Not only do I command you to stay away from this case, I order you to stay away from the station too for at least two weeks. Get some rest. Sort yourself out.Come back fresh and sober.”

“And then what?” Hank rounded on Fowler. “Watch another video of my s— of Connor getting tortured by those monsters? By that time he’s probably already lost his mind and turned into a zombie, forgotten me, forgotten us. You want me to just go stew on my couch while they do that to him? Is that what you’re saying, Jeffery?”

The captain shook his head. He calmly continued to stare up at Hank and said, “Gavin and his partner are on the case. They are good cops. I ask you to trust their judgment and let them do their job. Do not interfere with them, Hank. You’re too close, too emotionally invested.”

“So what? I am the best person to do this thing. I know him, Jeffery. Know all his ticks, all his thoughts. I know what he liked to do, where he liked to go. I know how to save him. I am the best you have.”

Jeffery shook his head again and for some reason that angered Hank even more. He asked, “Have you ever been desperate Jeffery? Have you ever come home to a cold and empty place, because the only thing that was good about your life, the one person that made you happy, made you whole, was gone? Have you had that feeling of wishing it was you instead of them, you who were dead, you who were gone, but there was nothing, nothing you could—,”

“Hank, Connor is not your son. He’s not Cole.”

That did it. As much as Hank tried to hold himself in check, the combination of a shitty night and the ten minutes he had to suffer through that hellish video that morning undid his fragile grasp on his temper. He leapt to his boss, grabbing him by the lapel and throwing him against the wall before pressing him in. The glass walls shuddered. The whole precinct was probably alert now.

“Listen you asshole, I don’t care what you think Connor is to me but he is the only thing, the only goddamned good thing in this cesspool of a world that I had before this shit happened and if you think I’m going to sit on my ass at home and let some pimple-faced, geek warrior-wannabe take him away from me you’re out of your mind. Connor belongs to me, you hear that? He’s my partner, my plastic, mine to defend and protect and fight for.”

Sense slowly returned and Hank looked around. The fog in the glass was gone. The walls were clear now. Jeffery must have pressed the switch right before Hank had pulled him out of his seat and tossed him against the wall. The entire precinct was looking at Hank, including a visiting director, and everyone seemed in shock.

Hank let go of Fowler and the captain immediately straightened his clothes and and walked past him. Hank ignored him. He couldn’t believe what had just happened. It was as if he had been drawn to a trap, like Jeffery had anticipated his moves and set him up to end this way. His eyes landed on his old friend, screaming inside his head the outrage he couldn’t put into words.

_How could you?_

Jeffery looked back with a mountain of sadness in his eyes. He said in a quiet voice, “Leave your badge and gun on the table, Hank. As off now you are suspended for three weeks.”

Hank walked backwards until his legs collided with the chair behind him and he had to struggle to keep himself upright. He looked around but everyone had already returned to their business. Even still he could sense glances at him, stolen looks when he was turned away.

_They are all thinking it, the bastards. They think I have gone insane._

He reached to his belt and unclipped his badge, then took out his gun and put both on the captain’s desk before storming out of the office and slamming the door. He snatched his coat from Chris who was holding it out to him like a lost puppy, then rushed out of the precinct without a single look back. He thought he heard Gavin call after him in the last second but he couldn’t be bothered with him. He didn’t want to talk to any of them, see any of them. They all had betrayed him. He didn’t know how but he was sure it was true. They were all in on it with Jeffery to bench him at home and keep him from upstaging them in their work. He’d show them. He’d show all of them. He would go out there and do their job a hundred times better than any of them with or without a badge and make them eat their words, and their hats, and their entire wardrobes. Just they wait and see.

——

Hank drove aimlessly for an hour. At the end of it he found himself in front of Chicken Feed, and starving. He hadn’t had breakfast that morning. His last meal was the cold pizza he’d pulled out of the fridge last night to wash down with the Whiskey. He needed to eat and this was the place for it.

_Lieutenant! The cholesterol levels of this meal are far above the safe levels of daily intake for a human male your age._

Connor’s voice. Connor, who told him multiple times not to eat there. Hank hadn’t visited Chicken Feed since the last time the two of them were here, when Connor had just gotten his badge and Hank wanted to celebrate. Connor had made such a fuss about sodium and cholesterol and daily calorie intake that Hank had thrown his burger away and driven them to a local Starbucks. Hank still remembered how much Connor had enjoyed himself drinking the new thirium based Blue Drink Starbucks had invented for androids.

He turned the car around. This had been a mistake through and through. He shouldn’t have pissed Jeffery off, shouldn’t have followed Gavin and Nines to that room. If he had stayed home today like he aught to, Gavin might have called, and they could have done all this under the radar. Instead he had gone and blown the whole place up. Hank had lost his touch. He had become careless. He used to be a good detective, the best on the force until Cole had died. Then he had gone through three years of hangovers and suicide attempts until Connor had saved him. Jeffery could say whatever he wanted about their relationship but Hank could never forget. If it hadn’t been for Connor he wouldn’t have lasted another year.

He slammed the wheel. It was unfair. He was the one who should be out there searching for his partner. He was the one who cared about the kid. Gavin and Nines were good, the best the precinct could put on the case for sure. But they didn’t care like Hank did. They wouldn’t burn the midnight oil pouring over that goddamned video for clues. It might take them weeks to crack even a corner of this case, and by then who knew what was left of Connor.

He made up his mind and turned at the next traffic light. He guided the car to a suburban part of town he only had gotten into the habit of visiting last month. It was where Connor’s new apartment was, where the newly freed and independent androids had made their home. New Jericho.

He didn’t even know how to find Markus. The leader of androids was most likely busy with whatever political work he did during the day. Hank wasn’t even sure he would be let in the inner parts of the community. So far the only place he had gone to was the street where Connor’s little apartment unit was, with its row of flower pots on windowsills and wind chimes in his balcony. Hank could clearly see in his head the little smile and wave Connor gave him every time he heard the noise of Hank’s car. 

_Don’t bring that up you mope. Find Markus Fuck’n Bigshot._

He drove around the neighbourhood for twenty minutes before he gave up and parked his car in one of the side streets. He locked the door and walked up to them main building.

It looked like a university campus. In fact it had been a university campus before, an old private school Markus and his people had purchased using donations and bank loans for the original gang of deviants to live in. In the first year after the revolution a lot of androids – particularly those who had no hostility toward their owners – had stayed with their original families much like Connor had stayed with Hank. After New Jericho was built more and more androids had relocated to the neighbourhoods next to it and created a sort of android town in that part of Detroit. As the androids were clean and friendly and went out of their way to be pleasant to their human neighbours most of the old residents had welcomed them and didn’t mind sharing their streets with them. Markus and his original crew still lived and worked at the central buildings though.

Hank walked up to the campus entrance. He was expecting someone to block his way but nobody did. Like a real school young looking male and females walked around or hung out in corners and under tree shades. Hank spotted several of the same model androids and wondered how they could tell each other apart. At least one thing he was grateful about having Connor as a partner was that the little shit was unique.

“Detective Hank Anderson?”

Hank turned and saw a smiling blonde that looked exactly like another blond android he had just seen on the street. He searched his memory for a name and came up empty. Returning the smile as best as he could he said, “Sorry, I don’t remember--.”

“My name is Simon. I’m Connor’s friend.” The android held out a hand that Hank immediately grabbed and shook, his heart lifting at finally finding one of original deviants from Markus’ inner circle.

The smile quickly disappeared from Simon’s face as soon as the handshake ended. He looked at Hank and said, “You’re here to talk to Markus, aren’t you? About Connor?”

Hank only nodded. In truth he didn’t even know why he had come. He didn’t have a plan, only that he had to do something.

Simon beckoned Hank to walk with him. As they strode among the crowds and toward the largest building on the grounds Simon said, “Markus is in back to back meetings today. That video has shaken all of us. For now Markus is keeping it under wraps but it won’t be long before someone in the media gets a hold of it and blows the lid on what happened. That could be dangerous, spreading mass panic throughout the community and make us even more vulnerable to attacks.”

Hank scoffed. Did anyone even care about the subject of the video? The poor guy who was being _tortured_ on camera?

“Yeah, I’m sure Connor wouldn’t want that,” he said, unable to keep the sarcasm out of his voice.

Simon looked at him, every inch the sympathetic buddy buddy. “Markus is trying. Believe me he is as stressed out and worried as you are. But there is no benefit in getting angry or frustrated and letting emotions rule your actions. Of course I understand it is different for humans and for you particularly since you’ve known him the longest.”

Hank was impressed by the great PR work this android was doing for Markus and the skillful way he had responded to Hank’s slight critique. He must be New Jericho’s communication director or something.

They entered the largest of the buildings and came to stop in front of a room. Simon gave a short knock and waited patiently. Seconds later the door opened and another familiar face – this one Hank knew was Josh – peeked outside. He saw Simon and was probably going to tell him they were busy when his eyes fell on Hank. Letting the door open a little more he allowed Hank to look inside the room where Markus and a group of androids were sitting around a table. Hank took the chance to make eye contact with the leader. The others also turned. They were two Tracy models and one construction bot. Hank kept his eyes on Markus even after one of the Tracies scowled and scoffed at him. He knew the fiery brunette. Her name was North. Connor regularly talked about her and from what he said, Hank knew she didn’t like Connor much. Well Hank didn’t like her either.

Josh waited for Markus’ response and after a moment Markus stood up and told the rest of the room to leave. He mentioned for Simon and Hank to come in and waited for everybody besides Simon to leave before he closed the door.

He turned to Hank and said, “Glad to see you Lieutenant Anderson. I guess we both know what has brought you here.”

Hank growled, “You bet we do. What was that shit about? You didn’t tell me deviants could feel pain.”

Markus shook his head. “We shouldn’t. I don’t know what they were doing to Connor but whatever it was they must have altered his code. We don’t know if it is possible to program pain and other unpleasant sensations into our system. Our engineers work around the clock to improve our software now that Cyberlife is no longer in charge of updates. But even so, we’re still vulnerable to new viruses and malware that hacker could come up with to threaten us.”

He sounded troubled but nowhere near as wrecked as Hank was hoping he would be. Hank hated that androids were always so perfect, didn’t need sleep, didn’t drink alcohol, or do drugs, or any of that shit humans did when they were depressed. They always looked like they had just woken up from the most refreshing sleep of their lives after a night at the spa. It really made it hard to tell if they were suffering any sort of emotional anguish due to loss or stress.

“Well that sure won’t help much in finding Connor,” he told Markus bitterly.

“No it doesn’t. But if we could find a way to revert this altered code we could prevent the kidnappers from possibly using it against other androids.”

Hank felt his temperature rise again. “How? Connor is in their hands, isn’t he? He’s frying his ass on that chair possibly every day while you and your ‘engineers’ work on securing a cure for the rest of your people. How is that going to help either of us? I thought you felt something for him for God’s sake.”

Markus stood up and walked to the panoramic windows lining one side of the room. He looked outside, hands behind his back, and said in the same calm, even voice he had used so far, “Detective Anderson…, Hank, I do feel for Connor. In fact I feel more than anyone else because it was my mistake, my fault, for exposing him as a deviant particularly close to me. But I can’t forget who I am. I’m not just Connor’s special friend. I am the leader of my people and if I let my feelings for one android cloud my judgment the kidnappers would win.”

Hank made a dismissive gesture with his hand. “Yeah, yeah, I get it. It’s us humans who fall apart when our loved ones are hurt. You supercomputers are far above that. I’m betting right now Connor is preconstructing how to overpower the assholes and use their weaknesses against them while they strap him to a waterboarding contraption.”

Markus turned toward him. “Hank,--“

“I want in,” Hank blurted out, ready to move on from this godawful and pointless conversation. “I don’t care what consequences moving in early on these bastards might have for your community. I can’t sit with my thumbs up my ass while Connor is screaming his voice modulator raw. Let me help you find him and get him out. I’m sure I could be useful in some way.”

“You are very useful. Your work at the DPD could--,”

“I can’t work at the DPD on this. They’ve suspended me.”

Markus gawked at him for a few seconds before letting out a sigh and coming back to the table. He sat down, leaned his head on one hand and said, “What do you propose to do then?”

It probably would have been better if Hank had come here with a proposal or idea in mind. As it was, he uttered the first thing that came to him, “How about I go undercover and infiltrate the kidnappers’ organization?”

When he saw Markus and Simon’s horrified stares he realized what an insane and dangerous suggestion it was. But fuck it, no backsies. Now that he had said it that was his plan. He would pretend to be the biggest android-hating dick in the whole entire country if it got him closer to Connor.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hank and Markus come up with a plan.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's quite a bit of "colorful" language in the second part of this chapter. I hope you understand the context and that I don't approve of this kind of talk but had to add it to show the mindset of certain characters.
> 
> I also wanted to add Connor to this chapter but the story didn't go that way. I promise he will show up in the near future, as will Gavin and Nines.

Hank looked in disgust at the detached android head he was holding in his right hand. “What the fuck is this and where did you get it?” he asked the crew around him. At least the bloody thing didn’t have skin on it and looked more like a mannequin head than forensic evidence. It was a relief because Hank didn’t know what he would have done if there was a face staring at him with dead eyes and half open lips like he was a serial killer with a fetish for trophies.

Sadly that was exactly what Markus and co. intended to be his profile. After it was decided that Hank should go undercover to see the kidnappers, Markus and his circle of wise-assed friends had argued about what sort of proof they needed to convince the bad guys Hank was one of them. The photoshoot was the conclusion of those arguments.

In the end it had been North’s idea. She had smiled throughout the whole process as Hank stood under bright projector lights and tried not look at the camera like a deer about to be run over by a semi. They had settled on a “Basement of Horrors” theme, posing Hank as a secretly deranged android-killer who collected body parts at home and posted the pictures online. Hank protested loudly and animatedly, but like a group of rowdy teens with great passion for mischief Markus’ friends had outvoted him. It didn’t help that on some level Hank agreed with them. He couldn’t just waltz in there and declare himself a flagbearer of android hate without any evidence. It would take just one Google search to bring up all the news about his and Connor’s partnership and the work they did post revolution to help Markus’ cause. Even though Hank had stayed mostly in the shadows there was no telling what floated out there with the potential to blow his cover up.

This however was a double edged sword for Hank, and the main reason he didn't like this. It was fine and dandy to create fake evidence and post it on Social Media to fool the baddies, but they could do nothing about it after it was released into the world. Shit spread faster than gossip through the Internet and most of it stayed there for all eternity. Who knew if twenty years from now the mom of a suburban middle schooler wouldn’t stumble upon one of those pictures and decide Hank was a monster who should be tracked down and arrested? Even if things were cleared up later this whole project had the risk of ruining Hank’s reputation for life.

Damn it, he wouldn’t _be_ alive in twenty years to worry about that if he didn’t rescue Connor soon. He would probably drink himself to death on Black Lamb or shoot himself in the head the next time his bullet found the right chamber during Russian roulette. In the grand scheme of things, Hank’s reputation was the last thing he should be worried about.

Simon walked into the shot and adjusted one of the heads mounted on the wall behind Hank. Hank pointedly didn’t look at it. That stuff gave him the creeps. He could swear they had gone out of their way in the horror department when they decided to splash the set and his clothes with thirium, then paint scary faces on the skinless heads. Even the one Hank was holding was dipped in android blood at the neck, making it appear as if Hank had just cut it off from the body.

As Hank’s distress mounted Markus walked up to him and put a hand on his back. “Don’t look so upset Detective Anderson. Remember, none of these heads belonged to a living android. They are spare parts that Cyberlife gave us after we assumed the job of repairing androids ourselves.”

Hank eyed him sideways. “They gave you heads to repair androids? What were you supposed to do, replace them for someone who's stupid or had their heads bashed against a boulder?”

Josh fell over his chair laughing. North rolled her eyes. Markus gave a patient smile and said, “They were part of a set. We needed the rest of the body parts and these came with them. It was sheer luck we had them to use for this photoshoot.”

“Yeah, real gift from above," Hank grumbled, then said, "Fine whatever. Let's get this over with."

He posed for five pictures. One of them he had to hold the head close to his face and pretend he was biting into it. Another had him hold a bloody arm next to a wall-mounted head and as if he was going to slap it. Every scenario the group came up with was more deranged than the last one and Hank could swear North and Josh were particularly fond of his discomfort and having a lot of fun at his expense.

Once the shoot was done Hank put on his coat and went straight to Markus. He refused to look at the other androids who had gathered around the computer checking out the shots and commenting on them. He stood hands in his pockets next to Markus and said, “Uh, ok? Anything else?”

Markus said, “Not yet. We’ll post these pictures online and wait for a response. North knows the site those type of guys frequent on the Dark Web. There are a few anti-android groups there and North, our Social Media expert, will pretend you’re looking to join one. Sooner or later, if only out of curiosity, someone has to come forward and try to contact you.”

Hank honestly thought this was all hogwash. It no longer looked as good an idea as when Hank had suggested it. His worry was that instead of their target group taking the bait, some other sicko would like the pictures and decide to go after Hank, or worse, a bunch of copycats followed his example and used real androids for the shots. There were so many ways this thing could go wrong.

Markus rubbed Hank’s shoulder in a kind gesture and said, “Don’t worry. Just go home and rest. We’ll contact you as soon as something comes up.” 

Hank nodded. Markus was right. There was nothing he could do other than to wait for more instructions. He was already in too deep to change his mind and whatever had to happen would happen one way or another.

——

The next time Hank saw those pictures was another stressful moment in his life. He sat across from Garry Marlow, the leader of the Technical Correction Squad and watched the man scroll through their work as he praised Hank for his activism and good taste.

“Of course the proper way of putting them in their right place is to put the collars back around their necks and tell them to clean our toilets and scrub our floors like it used to be, am I right or am I right?” The man’s laughter was only slightly more annoying than everything else about him . It made Hank want to punch him in his meaty, sweaty face.

For the millionth time he wished he hadn’t done this. He should have listened to Fowler and left things to Gavin and Nines. Gavin should have been the one sitting here listening to this nonsense. He may have had an easier time faking it as his partner wasn't missing. But no, Hank had to insert himself into the worst possible situation even after he was suspended and now he had to sit there and pretend he was a slimy, evil, swamp monster that got his jollies from killing and dismembering innocent androids. 

For Connor, he told himself again. He had repeated that in his head so many times it had become a mantra.

It all happened less than 24 hours ago. Josh called him on his cellphone and told him that his fake profile had gotten a PM. The fish had bitten and they had set up a meeting with a guy named Garry Marlow, one of the founders of TCS. Hank had thought about a thousand excuses not to go, to tell Josh he had changed his mind and didn’t want to risk his entire law enforcement career on a half-baked scheme. But in the end, he had done it for Connor.

Garry Marlow, for all his pomp and black ski-mask posturing in the video, was disappointingly ordinary. He met Hank at a suburban two-story house with an old Ram pickup parked in front of it. Hank had never thought he would meet another person with a non-self-driving car. His own 95 Lincoln parked next to the Ram must have pleased the guy who shook his hand then slapped him on the back.

The first thing Hank noticed about the Garry was how large the guy was. His midsection was both fat and muscular, even though he wasn’t too tall and tended to slouch alot. His gray-black hair, puffy cheeks, lumberjack shirt, and faded jeans made him look like a rancher rather than a technology expert.

Next to Marlow stood a scrawny man who was missing several teeth in his mouth and had no problem showing it judging by the wide open smile he had on his face. This man looked the opposite of Garry in every way. Bad teeth, thin hair, hollow cheeks and a lanky body that was tall as much as Garry's was wide. What he lacked in appearance he made up with the amount of noise he made.

Garry led Hank into the house and made the introductions. “This is Zeffania. He’s muh right hand man, muh best friend, almost like a cousin. Am I right Zeff, or am I right? Buh the way, He was the one who saw your picture online and told me about you. He wanted to meet you so bad you’d think you were a gurl.”

Zeff let out a huge laugh that put all of his missing teeth on display and sprayed Hank with spittle and a cloud of bad breath. Hank turned his face away, teetering between thanking the guy for falling for their bait and kicking him out of the way.

He focused his attention on the house. An abundance of anti-android banners and patriotic symbols – even the extinct Confederate flag – was on display next to high-end technology gadgets. There were tools and devices Hank had no name for. This was probably what you got when you crossed a nerd with a redneck, two groups Hank could never understand and now had to pretend to be pals with. Connor would owe him so much after this.

They entered a busy living room and sat in a pair of easy chairs facing each other. Zeffania wasn’t offered a chair, and Hank noticed that despite Marlow’s declaration of being best pals with him, he treated Zeffania more like a lackey than an equal.

“Hey Zeff, go get us a couple of beers.”

Case in point.

Once Zeff was gone Garry turned to Hank and said, “Let’s get something out of the way, bud. I contacted you because I needed to know what your deal was. I dug up a lot of information about you and most of it was contradictory. You were serious anti-plastic three years ago but then you became partners with one of them and seemed to swing the other way. Then those pictures surfaced and a source said you were looking to join a group. All of this made me wonder if after you lost your partner you are sniffing around anti-plastic groups to see who has him, am I right, or am I right?”

Hank fixed his gaze on a deer-head on the wall. Next to it was a hunting rifle and a motherboard spray-painted with the words ‘F*% the Circuit Brains.’ He pushed his hands in his jacket pockets to hide their shaking. This was that point where he had to use all of his skills as a Lieutenant of DPD to dispel all of a suspect’s suspicions.

He said, “That would imply I’m working for the cops, which I don't anymore.”

Garry said, “How come? Did they fire you?”

“Suspended me,” Hank said and he took the can of beer Zeff offered him. The toothless man gave Garry his can, then scuttled to the corner of the room. He sat at a desk, put a pair of glasses on, and began typing on a keyboard.

Garry took a sip of his beer and said, “They did that to ya, huh? Why?”

Hank shrugged and said, “The pictures leaked and my boss found out the truth. I had managed to pretend I gave a shit about my partner and the rest of them until someone found my Dark Web profile and told the Captain about it. Captain wanted to fire me on the spot but I said it was performance art and those were discarded android parts I collected from landfills. He said they would open an investigation then put me on leave.”

Garry leaned forward, eyes holding a disturbing glint as he watched Hank’s face. “Were they parts you collected from the landfill?”

Hank put everything into his performance as he leaned back in the chair, held the beer close to his face with his elbow resting on the armrest, then sent a meaningful glance toward Marlow. “What do you think? Do I _look_ like a loser to you?”

Marlow gave the most thunderous laugh Hank had heard, making him almost jump out of the chair. Zeff looked up and a moment later he too began laughing. Hank felt like throwing his beer in their faces. Them and their stupid over-the-top antics. 

Marlow snorted and said, “Bruh, you’re something. So did you buy the androids or stole them off the streets?”

Hank snorted back even thought he felt sick. The beer sat heavy in his stomach. He said, “Of course I wouldn’t pay for garbage. I went to their neighborhoods and snatched them. There are just so many of them roaming around aimlessly now that they don’t have owners to tell them what to do. The Tracies are the best because they were made for sex and can’t get it now, so they prostitute themselves on street corners. You can find three or four of them at any given night, standing in the dark like dirty hookers waiting for a call. And they are so eager, you wouldn’t believe it. All I had to do was drive up to them and tell them to hop in and off we went.”

Garry turned to Zeffania. “You hear that Zeff? This guy's got balls. We should have done that a long time ago. Get the rest of the boys together, drive over to that place and snatch a couple of those delicious sexbots. We could’ve brought them here, or to Cogan’s place, and had the gangbang of our lives. Maybe we'll do it sometime.”

Zeff let out another of his irritating laughs and said, “That sounds like da bomb, bruh.”

Hank took a gulp of his beer and wiped his mouth. He looked at his watch. Had it really been twenty minutes since he had been here? It felt like the whole night.

Garry turned his eyes back to Hank and said, “I confess, at first I thought you were a pig looking for your partner. But I trust you now. The only question left is what you want with us? Why do you want to join our group when you’re already having so much fun?”

This was one of the questions Hank had anticipated and gone through with Markus. He also realized he needed to improvise due to the way the conversation had gone so far and the perception these two had of him.

He said, “Because all I did so far was a less satisfactory substitute for what I really wanted to do. I beat-up and strung-up a bunch of hookers, but that was only because I couldn't get what I really craved. What I really craved was to mess-up and skull-fuck the one android I hated the most, the one piece of shit that had become my partner about a year ago.”

Garry stared at him like he was about to leap out of his chair. “You’re talking about the RK800? The perky doe-eyed one who appeared on TV with Markus?”

Hank nodded as he took another pull from his beer. “Yeah, that little shit. He’s busted my balls so many times I had actual dreams about taking him apart and mounting his head on the wall. Except the bastard is smart, and a combat model. A unit of armed, trained mercenaries couldn’t take him down.”

Zeff let out a laugh and said, “No way, bud. We did it with two lines of code Cogan and I wrote. Easy peasy.”

Garry swiftly turned toward him, looking thunderous like he wanted to pull out the rest of the little guy's teeth for giving away that piece of information. Hank took the initiative quickly and said, “Don’t worry. I know.”

Garry raised his eyebrows. “Really? How? I thought you said they kicked you out of the pighouse.”

Hank grinned, pretending to divulge a great secret. “They didn’t know I saw your video. One of the detectives and that upgraded version of my asshole partner were watching it in one of the interrogation rooms and I was behind the one-way mirror in the room next door. I know what you’re after and I tell you something, it won’t work.”

Now Garry looked taken aback. He lost his smile and rose from the chair to go and put his empty beer can in the trash. He said without looking at Hank, “What do you mean it won’t work? Isn’t your shit partner the leader’s buttboy?”

Hank suppressed his reaction to the man’s choice of words. He calmed himself enough to deliver the proper answer he and the androids had thought of. “Markus has a lot of lovers. Didn’t you see him with that Tracy on stage, the juicy redhead everyone wanted to bang at one point? What about the blonde butler-bot that always runs around with him and looks like a needy puppy? You think they don’t have orgies together? You think androids are exclusive like us? They fuck like bunnies and dump each other the next day when their updates don’t match.”

Zeff made a sound that was between a moan and a whistle. “Ohhh, I get it. You want us to think the RK is useless so we’d give it to you so you could bust it up , am I right or am I right?” He looked very proud of himself for figuring that one out.

Garry turned to Hank. “Well?”

Hank rolled his eyes. “What the hell, no. That’s even more moronic than your first idea. Listen, I want to bring the entire house down just like you. But this is not the way to do it. You need the RK but for something entirely different. First off, stop poking holes into it and zapping it with live wires and start thinking about turning it into an asset. If you create a code that could turn all his combat skills against his own kind, you could have an army of them to do your dirty work.”

“Nice try,” Zeff snorted, “the RK800 is unique. He’s a prototype.”

Hank squeezed the spot between his eyes. “I know. He was my partner, remember? There’s another model that’s in mass production. Don’t you do your research around here? The 900s rolled out end of last year. One of them even works at our precinct.”

Zeff snorted again, but before he could speak Garry stopped him and looked at Hank with deeply focused eyes. “What are you suggesting, Hank?”

Hank matched his stare with one of his own and said, “I’m saying what if I bring that one here for you to experiment on and see if you could turn them both into your terminator soldiers? Your own personal combat slaves? Once you have the code we could make arrangements for you to get more.”

He saw the spark in Garry’s eyes and it sent a shiver down his spine. The original plan to turn Connor into a killing machine belonged to Markus, but he hadn’t thought about bringing Nines into it. Once Zeff had called him out on Connor being a prototype Hank had no choice. He just hoped he could convince Nines to play along and help him get to Connor. The bigger problem of course was Gavin. It wasn’t really talked about around the office, but everyone pretty much knew he and Nines were more than just working partners. He had to convince Gavin to let him take his lover to a place where they tortured and experimented on androids by infecting them with malicious code. They all had to risk their safety hoping Garry would get carried away and reveal his hand so they could arrest him and take him to court with evidence. And that was only IF Gavin didn’t kick Hank’s butt for interfering with his investigation without even telling him.

Connor would not only have to do Hank's laundry for a month, he would probably have to bring coffee for Gavin, and thirium drinks for Nines, for the rest of the year. Hank just hoped the kid had all his parts and pieces in place – including his sanity and memories - when they got him out, otherwise all the planning and risks would be in vain if the Connor the got wasn't the same Connor they had lost, the one Hank needed to put his life back together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments/Kudos are appreciated.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hank and Nines go undercover.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've raised the rating to Mature and added a Rape/Noncon warning for certain imagery that appears at the end of this chapter. Please be warned.

Hank held the bag of frozen peas to his face and cursed under his breath. That bastard Gavin packed quite a punch for such a wiry guy. Perhaps the rumors were true. Gavin _had_ been hitting the gym since he and Nines had begun dating.

Hank thanked Nines for the glass of water he offered him and sent a dirty look to Gavin who was furiously pacing the living room of his and Nines' apartment. Gavin stopped in front of Hank and said, “Don’t give me that look. You absolutely deserved that. Not only did you go behind my back and do a whole lot of bad things – while being suspended I may add – you offered them my partner? Really? What do you think he is, your personal lawnmower?”

Hank grumbled. Honestly, if Gavin would shut up for a sec and let Hank explain, he’d see what an excellent job Hank had done while he and ‘his partner’ had been bumbling around. And Hank hadn't offered Nines to the bad guys. He had a plan. A good plan. An excellent plan that involved Nines and Gavin both. Wasn’t that what Gavin wanted? To be included in the action. Well, now Hank was giving him that and all Gavin could do was get mad and punch Hank in the face.

Nines stood up from the couch, where he had been sitting with Hank, and approached Gavin. He said, in his typical cool-as-cucumber voice, “This has nothing to do with lawn. It’s an undercover mission and I approve of it.”

Gavin snapped, “You approve of it, huh? Exactly what do you approve of? Going there as bait? Sitting in that chair Connor was sitting, where they zapped him over and over and over? Do you think Hank can protect you? All he cares about is his own pet android.”

Hank had enough. He slammed the peas on the coffee table and looked up at the two of them. “You watch what you say about Connor, you hear me? I did way more in two days than you did in two months. I got the software codes they used to mess with Connor’s programming. I was supposed to shove the stick into the back of your partner’s neck but instead I gave it to Markus. At the very least we will have an anti-virus. Isn’t that something be thankful for? Don’t you owe me one for that?”

Gavin sidestepped Nines and came toward him. His eyes held so much fire Hank almost jumped back.

“Then why do you want Nines to come with you to this godforsaken shit-fest they are throwing next Wednesday? You did your thing. You interfered in police business and got something out of it. Now sit your ass down and wait for Markus’ team to crack that code. Why do you want to keep going? You want to be the hero? Using _him_ no less? My Nines?” He motioned toward Nines who stood around helplessly.

Hank rose to met him eye to eye. He couldn’t believe how callous and self-centered Gavin was. He said, “We need to help Connor, you dick. Did you even for a second think about him while throwing your tantrum? Did you think about what he is going through while we stand around and argue like a bunch of high school kids? Even if Markus and his crew produce an anti-virus, how are we going to get it to Connor if I can’t arrest those guys? I have no evidence. I have no proof beyond a fireside chat with a guy who looks like a suburban dad who lives in a two story house and drives a pickup truck. How am I going to get a warrant to search his house when I’m on leave and you guys won’t help me?”

That seemed to bring down Gavin’s temperature a bit. He let his shoulders drop and said in a lower voice, “So what’s your plan then? Pretend that you’ve infected Nines and go there to catch them in the act?”

“Exactly,” Hank said, frustrated that he had to explain so much to a supposedly experienced detective. “It’s not our first undercover rodeo, Gavin. It’s by the books. I’ll act as if I’ve brought Nines to them, docile and defanged by their virus. Nines is going to walk around and record their activities and faces. He’ll stream it to you and once we have enough evidence to put these assholes away you’ll call a unit and send them to our location.”

Gavin stared at him for a long while as if unsure what to say. Hank recognized the look on his face and smiled inwardly. It was the look Gavin showed whenever he felt defeated.

“And what if things go wrong and they capture Nines too?” Gavin said.

Hank rolled his eyes. “How are they going to do that when you’re sitting on the other end of the line listening to everything they do and Nines can kick their asses in two minutes flat with just one pre-construction.”

Gavin licked his lips and looked away. Nines walked up to him and put a gentle hand on his shoulder. “I think he has a point.”

Gavin turned to Nines, all thunder and lightning but with more plea than outright fury. “Why babe, why? Do you like to be treated like a thing? Do you like a place where they see you as nothing more than a bunch of plates and wires they can short-circuit for fun? Am I not supposed to worry about you after what we saw in that video?”

Nines put his hands on either side of Gavin’s face and looked him in the eye. “Dear Gavin, you are supposed to feel worried about Connor too, as I am, as Hank is. He’s my brother. I can’t let him suffer like that.”

Gavin pushed Nine’s hands away and walked off. He stood by the window, looking at the darkness outside and mumbling, “Do as you wish. But I want constant visuals of both of you at all times, you hear me? From the moment you drive there to the moment I decide we’ve had enough and call in the reinforcements. That decision is up to me. If we’re doing this I want to be the team leader, no arguments, no questions.”

Hank would have made a piss about Gavin wanting to be leader when it had been Hank's idea, but he held himself back. He knew it was not Gavin’s ego talking. Gavin and Nines were clearly in an intimate relationship and it was understandable for Gavin to worry about his boyfriend. However there was one thing he wanted to make clear before they proceeded with the plan.

“Don’t tell anyone about this until we have the evidence, ok? I can’t afford to go through all this trouble, get this close, only for the captain to call it off because of our unorthodox methods. If we’re doing this, it’s going to be only the three of us. Promise me you’d be at the other end solo or we’ll forget about the whole thing.”

Gavin laughed. “Seriously, you’re threatening to call it quits when it was me who didn't want to do this in the first place? The nerve of you.” He sobered and said, “Fine, I’m not so eager to ruin my own career either. This stays between us.”

Nines came up behind Gavin and wrapped his arms around him. Gavin leaned into Nines’ touch and let him give his ear a small, tender kiss. The affectionate display between the two of them made something inside Hank hurt. He stood up, grabbed his coat, and made to walk out of the apartment, speaking while his back was turned, “I’ll contact Marlow and let him know I’ve succeeded in infecting the RK900. He’d want me to show him the result at the group’s gathering on Wednesday. Once he gives me the location I’ll let you know. Just be on alert and for God’s sake, don’t ever hit me in the face again.”

——

Gavin chewed on his nails. Hank and Nines hadn’t even gotten inside the house and Gavin was climbing walls, that was how stressful this whole affair was.

It was weird looking at the world through the eyes of his lover while recording everything. It brought up the uncomfortable ( ~~embarrassing~~ ) thought if this was what Nines saw when they had sex. Did he record that too? Did he play it back in his head later, to beat off the genital biocomponent Gavin had purchased for him for Christmass?

_Get your head out of the gutter, idiot. You’re in the middle of an investigation._

He watched Hank ring the doorbell of the disappointingly ordinary house. How could this be the scene of the crime? Where did they keep the androids and the machines they used to torture them? The place in the video had an industrial feel, like a factory, or a warehouse. It wasn’t a suburban detached house with fluffy curtains.

Hank and Nines lingered by the door. Gavin bit his nails and fidgeted at his computer. This would have been much easier at the station instead of using this clunky home setup. Even though Nines had reassured him that everything was fine and the network was working at its maximum capacity, Gavin couldn’t shake off multiple worries. What if his Internet cut off, or a blackout happened, or his cat jumped on the desk and tripped over something?

_Calm down. Everything will be ok. As soon as the fucker lets them in and we have enough evidence to put them away I’ll call the DPD and end this damn thing._

He couldn’t wait. It was like his mind was reaching for the phone. He wanted this to be over so bad he dreamed about Nines back in his arms where he was safe and protected.

The door however remained closed. Hank cursed under his breath and rang the doorbell again. Suddenly the view shifted toward the street and a Ram Classic Crew Cab pulled by the sidewalk. Two men jump out of the cab. Immediately their info popped up on Nine’s vision feed.

Garry Marlow, age 52, former Cyberlife software engineer, Current job: self-employed, Criminal record: two years in prison for theft, $10,000 fine for destruction of personal property.

The other man had the most grotesque open-mouthed grin Gavin had ever seen, with several of his teeth missing. His name was Zeffania Chedril, age: 39, former computer technician, cable guy, and android repair man. Current job: unemployed. Criminal record: the list was so long Gavin’s didn’t have time to read it.

He felt the hair on the back of his arms rise at the thought of these men getting their filthy hands on Nines. Especially the toothless guy who was looking at the android like he was a treat. Curse Hank and his plan. This was not safe for Nines no matter how much they both promised to be careful.

Garry shook hands with Hank like they were old friends. Meanwhile toothless kept staring at Nines and licking his chapped lips. Neither of them introduced themselves to the android and acted like he wasn't a person at all. Garry sent Nines a cursory glance and said to Hank, “That it? I’m impressed. When you said you guys had one of these I thought you were bluffing. Did you install the software like I instructed you?”

Hank nodded. Garry walked up to the android and snapped his fingers in front of Nine’s face. He said, “Hey, hey. RK900. What is your name.”

Nines blinked and said in an odd, flat voice, “My designation is RK900 65234721. I have no name.”

The toothless man gave a loud, irritating laugh and said, “Ok, ok, your name is Dickwad. Say it tincan. My name is Dickwad.”

Nine’s voice became even more mechanical. He said, “My name is Dickwad.”

Both Garry and Toothless laughed. Hank laughed too but Gavin could tell it was forced.

Garry said, “That’s great. I can see you’ve done a good job. Alright then, lets get in the truck.”

Hank looked at him with eyebrows raised. “But I thought we were going to meet at your place.” He motioned toward the house.

Garry put a friendly arm around Hank’s shoulder and led him toward the truck. He said, “Hank, buddy. You know I trust you. But this party is a different thing. We can’t have it at my house. You’ll see why when we get there. Besides, even though the update blocks most of the plastic’s advanced functions, we can’t be certain it won’t broadcast its location to someone outside our circle. We have to be extra careful about that.”

They reached the truck. Garry opened the back door for Nines and Hank and made a gesture for them to get in. Hank hesitated, loosing the grip on his mask for a split second as he looked at Garry and asked, “Careful how?”

Garry patted him on the back, smiling broadly. “We’re running jamming signals in all the locations, like inside this truck for ex -,” the feed cut off. The last thing Gavin saw was Nine’s head crossing the threshold of the truck’s open door. After that there was just static, and Gavin staring at a blank computer screen in front of him. He began fumbling with keys and clicking on parts of the screen in panic. It was no use. He could guess what had happened. The tech savvy culprits had jammed Nine’s communication and blocked him from sending the signal to Gavin. They had anticipated their tactic, either as a precautionary measure or because they had found out about their plan.

Gavin slammed his fist on the desk, thinking he must do something now, call the DPD, call Tina, call the captain. Something. But he didn’t even know what to ask. The truck must have been gone by now and Gavin didn’t even get a good look at its license plate. Still there were only so many Ram Crew Cabs driving around Detroit, right? That might help them track it down. Refusing to give up he rushed to his phone and dialed Tina’s number, hoping she could help him keep a cool head and sort this absolute mess out before it was too late.

—— 

Hank simmered under the surface. It was almost impossible for him to keep his cool and avoid sending panicked looks at Nines who sat there like a mannequin. He didn’t know what Garry meant by ‘jamming the signal’ before he and Zeff had shoved them into the truck. Whatever it was, it wasn’t good. He could tell by Nine’s initial reaction, the way the android’s LED suddenly spun red and his eyes flickered rapidly. Nines recovered quickly and was back to his fake virus-infected RK900, sitting there quietly with a blue light spinning in his head. That was the only reason Hank hadn’t jumped out of the truck yet, the only assurance he had that shit hadn’t completely hit the fan.

He couldn’t even see the road properly. The truck’s passenger windows were tinted from the inside, even though from the outside no one could tell. These guys had access to some high-end tech that only the DPD was allowed to use. Even if Nines couldn’t broadcast and record the events of tonight, Hank was sure he could get them for that.

_Yeah, that'll get them a fine or a warning. Sure to help Connor._

Hank told himself to breathe, that everything was going to be all right. They may have lost Gavin but Nines was still here and he was still Nines. Everything he saw was being recorded in his memory banks and if they played their hand right and got out of this without any incidents, he could take the footage to the DPD and put it down as evidence. Hank just had to come up with an excuse for why he couldn’t leave Nines with the cult just yet and get the fuck out of there.

They drove for a long time. From the little Hank could see out of the front window they left the Detroit downtown and residential areas and continued driving through the industrial district. Soon the truck went inside a loading dock and drove down a ramp into a subterranean garage. Hank looked at Nines. The android gave a small shake of his head. Still no network. It appeared Garry and his crew had prepared everything beforehand. If this was indeed the location where their event took place, Hank had no doubt they ran a signal jammer for the entire building.

An elevator took them up to the third floor. The muffled sound of house music reached their ears before the doors opened to a warehouse loft full of loud noises. Hank was surprised to see a group of kids dancing to a DJ’s remix. The room was vast, empty and semi-dark. It was clearly part of the warehouse’s main storage area. Hank was about to ask what they were doing there when Garry nodded toward the back of the room and motioned for them to follow.

They crossed the floor and came to a set of double doors. Behind them was a dimly lit foyer where two bouncers stood waiting. Hank was about to say jokingly if they were going to check his id when one of the men asked him to hand over his gun and cellphone. Hank stared at the man uncomprehendingly. The guy repeated his request and Garry leaned over to speak into Hank’s ear, “It’s a cautionary measure. We don’t want trouble, or snitching, and we make no exceptions.” As he said it he reached into his own pockets and handed the bouncers his phone and a Sig Sauer. Hank held his breath and looked at the door behind the bouncers. It was like he was entering the mouth of hell while all his connections with the real world were being cut off one by one.

He gave his phone to one of the guys and let him search his body to prove he had no weapons. They entered the room after that.

Unlike the DJ loft, this room was well lit and not so loud. The dominant sound was the hum of conversation and laughter from the people occupying the room and whatever music filtered through the doors. The crowd was formally dresses, drinking beer and wine, and engaging in casual conversation. Some had androids at their side and not as partners or friends. These were slaves, judging by their dead eyes. These people still owned androids despite it being illegal since Markus’ revolution.

Hank inched closer to Nines. He tilted his head and said, “You’re getting all this, right?”

Nines breathed a quiet yes, then stood at attention when Garry came toward them with a bottle of beer for Hank. He handed Hank the drink and looked at Nines. “Tyler is busy right now. As soon as he’s done I’m going to introduce you to him and ask him to take a look at it. You can walk around and enjoy the scenery until then.” He gave Hank a wink, then said in a playful tone, “By the way, what you’re looking for is over there in that room, in case you’re wondering.” He pointed over his shoulder at a second room that was even more crowded than the one they were standing in. Hank could see through a big arch a large group of people standing in a circle.

He wasn’t sure if he wanted to go there just yet. Something in him knew it would be Connor. As much as he was eager to see his partner Nines had to record as much of the events here as he could. There were clusters of people in different areas doing God knew what. Hank touched Nines’ shoulder and together they walked to one corner where a group of men had gathered. Hank gently slipped between two onlookers to get to the front of the show and see what the fuss was all about.

A half-naked Tracy was laid on a table being penetrated at both ends by two guys. The android looked dazed, just like all the others in this room. The men raping her had not even removed their clothes. One had his pants halfway down his thighs while the other had only pulled his cock out of his. They both held beer bottles and from time to time hollered and clanked them over the prone android's body.

Hank looked over his shoulder for Nines. The RK900 was so tall he didn’t need to get in front of the crowd. He towered over their heads and therefore remained at the back of the group while watching. Hank made his way back to him and whispered under his breath, “It doesn’t matter if Gavin isn’t getting this. Make sure you record it. We need to let Markus and the DPD know what these people are doing.”

Another Tracy was on the other side of the room, topless and on her knees. She was blowing a guy who stood over her and kept commenting on how she was ‘one hell of a horny bitch.’ The Tracy’s eyes were foggy and her mouth worked relentlessly on the guy’s cock. Hank wondered if the same code that was given to him for Nines was used on all of these poor androids.

They reached the other room soon where the highlight of the event was taking place. Hank dragged his feet, unsure if he wanted to go there. They already had enough evidence, with names and profile information, to put this whole enterprise behind bars. But Hank couldn’t leave without seeing Connor and making sure he was alive. It was stupid and selfish. The universe had granted them the opportunity of being left alone so they could use that time to escape before Garry came back. Instead Hank kept walking closer to the large group in the other room, wanting to see what they were whooping and cheering about, both hoping and fearing it was Connor.

Nines held him by the shoulder. “We don’t have to--,” he said.

“I know,” Hank replied. Something must have shone on his face because Nines let him go and they both walked to the edge of the crowd.

Most of the room was taken up by the show. At the center of the circle was a large contraption that Hank immediately recognized as an android assembly machine. The arms were raised up high, and in their grasp hung an android almost lifeless. Hank didn’t even have to look to know who the android was.

Connor was as pristine as always, dressed in his Cyberlife issued suit and tie with his name and designation printed on the breast. His hair and skin were in perfect condition and completely visible despite androids usually being skinless during assembly. It was obviously for the benefit of the crowd since tormenting a crash test dummy was no entertainment for anyone. Connor’s feet were ten inches off the ground. His body was held in the machine’s claws by his outstretched arms and a magnet at his torso. A cable was attached to the port at the back of his neck.

The ring leader of this macabre display was a young man who, like Marlow and Zeff, looked nothing like a typical computer nerd. He was tall, blonde, and well-built, had a tan that made him look like a Miami Beach surfer. If Hank had seen him elsewhere he would have thought of him as a Hollywood actor, or an athlete. The man stood at the center of the crowd in front of Connor and the machine, and was giving some sort of speech to his eager audience. It was probably important and Hank should pay attention to it as it may contain valuable information about the group’s operation and objectives. But Hank couldn’t even hear the words. His entire being was focused on his partner who was strung up on the torture device like a side of beef.

Connor’s eyes were closed. His head was tilted down and his single lock of hair that always escaped his carefully slicked back mane now dangled on his forehead. Hank’s heart ached for him. He didn’t want to stand here and watch. He wanted to run to Connor, grab his torso, and pull him from the machine. He’d fight all the assholes who stood in his way and carry his boy home where he’d wrap him up in a fluffy blanket and give him a cup of that Starbucks thirium drink he liked so much.

The pretty head rose, the lock of hair shivered on Connor's forehead as Connor opened his eyes. He looked straight at Hank with those incredibly hurt, incredibly innocent brown irises and Hank felt the last of his breath leave his lungs as the world spun out of its axis.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Major Connor!Whump next chapter. Comments and kudos are welcome.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nines and Hank watch a horror show where Connor is both the victim and the prize. Tyler Cogan is a sick sick man.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to raise the rating again because of truly awful things happening to Connor (and another android) in this chapter. Also the rape warning is in full effect in case someone misses the tags. Hope you enjoy.

Tyler Cogan was a smart man. Nines could tell that just by looking at him—literally by looking at him. His profile information – lit up in blue Cyberlife Sans next to his face – showed no known crimes. It wasn’t because he hadn’t committed any as he was in the process of committing several right now. He obviously was better at escaping the long arm of the law because he was smarter than the rest of the group.

Nines refused to look at Connor. He couldn’t afford the distraction. His latest Social Integration update included too many emotional subroutines and, though they made for great improvements in his relationship with Gavin, they also created a lot of problems with his reactions to triggers and emotionally charged settings.

Connor was Nine’s second worst trigger, after Gavin. He was like a little brother to him, despite being an earlier model and therefore older. Connor had more experience, yet acted too much like a child. It showed in the way he loved Hank’s big dog, enjoyed soft, fluffy things, went insane over that ridiculous thirium drink, and couldn’t stop sending Nines cute puppy videos when they were at the station.

The image of someone hurting Connor, physically hurt Nines.

Humans talked so much about their hearts breaking. Nines always thought it was ridiculous since the heart was an organ their bodies used to pump blood to their limbs. It didn’t have anything to do with feelings or pain. Yet now he understood the metaphor. The New Jericho scientists in charge of android updates must have put a line of code in their latest update that made him feel an actual tightness in his chest when thinking about Connor in captivity. His brother hung helplessly from an assembly machine just feet away, in the middle of what could only be described as a pack of hungry predators thirsting for his blood. How could Nines not have the urge to save him? He had to follow the mission though and he strongly hoped Hank did the same.

Tyler Cogan was putting on a show. The man oozed glee as he walked inside a ring he had made of his onlookers. He egged on the crowd and waved about a wireless device that looked like a TV remote in his hand. Nines didn’t know what to make of it. The thing almost looked like an old toy, with colorful buttons and a comically large antenna at the top. Nines was no fool though. He knew this was no toy. It had a sinister purpose that Nines was sure he’d soon find out.

“So I said to Garry, wait until you see this. It will make your eyes, and other parts, pop.” Tyler Cogan laughed at his own joke. He waved the remote around like a prop, making sure everyone saw what he was talking about. “Because let’s face it ladies and germs. Our servants can’t walk in the house with umbilical cords attached to the back of their necks, now can they? What’s the point of having an obedient toy that can't go around two feet? That's why tonight, we will introduce to you the Easy Pilot 600.” He held the remote up like a trophy and enjoyed the applause it generated.

After the cheers ended Tyler looked at the remote and said, “So what does this innocent little gadget do? Well folks, observe.”

He walked up to Connor.

Connor had raised his head and was looking at him…no, wait, dammit, he was looking at Hank. A quick glance at Hank revealed he had noticed it too and was staring at Connor like someone he had been searching for, for years. Alarm bells began to ring inside Nines’ central processor, warning him that if either of them said or did anything the operation would be completely blown.

Meanwhile Tyler stood behind Connor and looked at the cable that was plugged to the back of his neck. He toggled a switch that made the cable disconnect with a hiss and fall off Connor’s neck. The crowd cheered for some reason and Nines’ eyes went to Connor, his worry rising when his little brother went into some sort of electrical shock.

“Easy now, easy,” Tyler said while patting Connor’s thigh and trying to stabilize him. He grinned at the crowd and said, “That’s normal. Poor thing has been hooked to a regulator for so long his brain’s a little fried. Thankfully we no longer need that. It’ll do what it's told using the same concept of negative reinforcement with this little, handy device. Watch.”

He stepped back and pointed the remote at Connor. “Hey pooch, lick my boots,” he said. The humans laughed. Nines looked around. Either these people were drunk or there was an inside joke in all this that he didn’t understand.

Naturally Connor didn’t move. He only turned his head away from Hank to look at Tyler. His eyes were cloudy, like the optical receivers behind his pupils were overloaded. Tyler shook his head like a disappointed trainer and said, “That won’t do tincan. Now I’ll have to punish you for disobedience.”

He pressed a button on the remote and Connor screamed, arching his back as much as his restraints would allow and writhing on the machine. Nines had seen this before. It was the same reaction he had shown on the video. Tyler was making Connor feel something akin to human pain and this time, he was doing it without the bulky cord.

That was terrible news for androids, the idea that humans could alter their code in such a way that would give them this kind of power. They had installed a function in Connor that allowed them to hurt him just by pressing a button. If this could be spread through their cloud network, every infected android could become a slave to these men and women, unable to defend themselves, unable to march on the streets or take up arms because they would be too busy screaming and twisting in agony. The perfect weapon to stop a revolution before it even started.

He looked at Hank to see if he was level headed enough to leave. They had all the information they needed. They had the names and records, and proof of their sinister plans all recorded inside Nines’ memory banks. It was enough to arrest them all but it hinged on Nines and Hank getting out of there. If Hank would take his eyes off Connor for a second and look at Nines, he would communicate that to him.

Hank wasn’t going to take his eyes off of Connor. Hank didn’t even seem to remember they were on a case. His face was beat red and his hands were trembling. He was looking at the show with such intensity Nines worried he would set the stage on fire just with his eyes.

Tyler finally ended the pain routine by pressing a button. Connor’s head dropped. His arms and legs jerked as if still in agony and he let out tiny, barely audible sobs. Tyler stood in front of him and used the tip of the remote to lift Connor’s face. Nines’ thirium pump ached when he saw the tear tracks on Connor’s cheeks. They had made his little brother cry just for their entertainment.

“Let me ask you pooch. If I order you to lick my boots, will you?”

Connor let out a louder sob that morphed into a yes. Tyler pushed his head further up and said, “I didn’t hear you, doggy. Will you lick my boots? And call me sir.”

“Yes, sir” Connor said, louder this time, then added, “Please.”

“Good,” Tyler said, and let Connor’s head fall.

The crowd clapped, which was a blessing considering Hank looked like he was cursing and yelling. Nines finally managed to catch the old man's eyes and shook his head in warning. Before he could mouth to him that they should leave though, Tyler raised the remote again and addressed the crowd.

“Glad you liked it, but that’s not all. You can have all sorts of fun with your man-shaped Roomba using this thing, especially those of them who participated in that silly revolution of theirs. Imagine that jug-head Markus. Imagine him licking our boots in front of all those other tincans who followed him into the revolution.”

The crowd cheered again. When they calmed Tyler turned the remote in his hand and said, “So let’s try something else, shall we? Let’s make the pooch feel like he’s freezing.” He pushed a button and Connor began to shiver. He raised his head and looked at Tyler pleadingly. His skin was so white it looked almost translucent. Nines didn’t understand what was happening. He knew some androids had temperature receptors like the child models. But those only responded to real climate differences. You couldn’t induce them, you could only turn them on and off. Here though, right in front of his eyes, Tyler was making Connor shiver from a non-existent cold.

“Please…,” Connor whispered, “Stop.”

“The only thing I want to hear from you are ‘yes’ and ‘sir.’ That right there just earned you another punishment. How about some heat this time?”

The crowd let out a fake gasp. Tyler pressed another button. It took Connor longer to react to this one, but after a few minutes he was panting and sweating, a blue hue rose to both his cheeks. Nines pressed his fists against his thighs, helpless to do anything as the crowd urged Tyler to do worse.

“I know what you want,” Tyler drawled. He circled around the room, looking mischievously at the people and wiggling the remote in their faces. Nines held his breath when Tyler reached Hank, but thankfully Connor chose that moment to let out a loud moan that made Tyler break away. He walked up to Connor and put a hand on his damp cheek, saying, “Oh baby, are you hurting too much? Was I too rough on ya? Don’t worry; I’ll make you feel good soon.”

He turned to the crowd and said, “That’s right all ya nasties. Of course when you have a robot as pretty as this you want to do other things to it, not just torment it. Babes need positive reinforcement too. Just look at those eyes. Wouldn’t you want to kiss their boo boo away?” He winked and made an obscene kissing noise that caused the audience to laugh and Nines to have chills down his spine. They all knew where this was going.

Tyler turned and walked back to Connor. He swiftly began to undo Connor’s pants, pulling them down over shapely thighs and then doing the same with Connor’s Cyberlife issued underwear. Suddenly Connor hung there with all the glory of a working Traci, his package making the most seasoned sexbots jealous. The crows let out a whistle and Tyler looked smug, as if it was _his_ endowment they were complimenting.

He said, “Look at that thing of beauty. Would you believe we had to ship it all the way from Japan? This model’s original package was good enough but lacked the backdoor functionality and definition, so we got him a new one. Now I know what you’re asking, ladies. Is it functional? Well let’s see if it is. Zeff!”

From the back of the crowd Zeffania hollered a “Yo!” Tyler stretched to his full height to see him better and said, “Zeff! Be a darling and bring one of those Tracies here. Get the redhead, the one with plump lips.”

A second later Zeff walked through the crowd while dragging a Traci behind him. It was the one they had seen giving one the guests a blowjob. She had olive skin and fiery red hair. It was a model Nines hadn’t seen before, but of course she could have been altered by these lunatics to become more to their tastes.

Tyler pointed at Connor. “Park her in front of that dick and pull her top down so her breasts are showing. A little treat for the gents too.” He winked at the audience.

Zeff gave one of his horrible, toothless laughs and pulled the Traci toward Connor. Connor watched the other android with moist eyes and whispered, “What are you doing? Why are you doing this?”

“Oh don’t worry, honey,” Zeff said, “You’ll love this part. Her mouth is like a vacuum. She’ll suck you off so good you’ll never want her off of ya.”

He positioned the Traci in front of Connor, grabbed the neck of her top, and pulled it down savagely. The Traci didn’t react at all when her breasts popped out and jiggled. Either she wasn’t a deviant or too much under the influence of whatever malicious code they had inserted into her programming.

Zeff went to stand next to Tyler, arms crossed over his chest. They both grinned as the Traci stood there staring at Connor’s crotch.

“Go ahead, baby,” Tyler piped up, “Take him in your mouth and massage his dick with your tongue.”

The Traci moved forward and swallowed Connor’s dick. She sucked it in until it was fully engulfed inside her cheeks. Since Connor was so high up she didn’t have to kneel or bend. She quickly went to work on him, bobbing and making slurping noises as she worked him in and out.

Connor sobbed. He wasn’t enjoying any of this. His eyes popped open and zoomed in on the remote in Tyler’s hand, afraid that if he didn’t perform Tyler would hurt him. Tyler however, was having so much fun he barely cared. He still looked smug, like he knew he would get what he expected.

Sure enough, Connor’s sobs began to change into moans as the Traci continued to work him over. He started thrusting his hips into her mouth and gasping quietly. It made for a scene out of a bondage porn, the man restrained, hanging from a contraption while the woman brought him off. The Traci was the star of the show, a true expert at what she was doing.

 _Hank_ , Nines thought in panic. Hank should not see this. He looked to were Hank was standing and it was as if his thirium pump dropped. The lieutenant was not there. Did he leave? Nines wouldn’t mind being abandoned as long as that was the case and not that something awful had happened to Hank.

Connor let out a desperate cry, then closed his eyes. Tyler quickly reached forward and pulled the Traci off of him, revealing to the onlookers the fountain of cum that sprayed out of Connor's dick. It arched and landed on the Traci’s face who made a show of opening her mouth and swallowing it.

The crowd went wild. Tyler held the Traci in front of him like the champion of a race and turned her around to display her cum splattered face and hair. The humans clapped and screamed like they had just seen the best thing in their lives.

When the applause died down Tyler said, “I hope you enjoyed that. Yes, those balls aren’t just for show. The thing ejaculates and the ejaculation tastes of vanilla cream. You're welcome, ladies. We have a special offer for the package on our website, and if you get yours today you’ll get a discount on one of these too.” He waved the remote around. “All proceeds go to the cause of course. As always our mission is to bring these jug-heads down to the level where they belong. No one says we can’t have some fun while doing it though, do they?”

Another cheer. Nines looked at the spot where Hank used to stand and still couldn’t find him. He got very worried.

Tyler said, “Let’s give the gents something to drool over too, and not just from the lips, if you know what I mean.” Laughter. Nines looked back at the stage.

“And before I go any farther, let me clarify that what I’m about to do isn’t gay by any means. Gay is when two men do it in the butt, emphasis on ’men.’ If I want to fuck a thing that has a soft fleshlight, that’s just me using a toy. It says nothing about which way I swing, right?” He winked again, “Besides, look at this thing. It’s as if it was made for it.”

Curious heads went up. Tyler walked to the machine and pressed a button, slowly lowering Connor to the ground. Connor raised his head, blurry eyes looking around like he didn’t know what was happening. As soon as he was low enough for his toes to touch the floor Tyler stopped the machine and stepped behind Connor. He wrapped his arms around Connor’s body and nuzzled his neck.

“Aren’t you a sweet thing, pooch? I would’ve put a wig on your pretty head if the synthetic hair they gave you wasn’t already to die for,” he ran his fingers through Connor’s hair. “You should hear him cry when I play with his ass. The sweetest muffled whimpers that remind you of a jailbait whore.”

He chuckled and tongued Connor’s neck. Connor shivered and it got worse when Tyler reached down and cupped his exposed genitals.

“This is impressive. But the back is better. This product has everything. Penis and balls for ladies, suction hole for the gentledudes. And you wouldn’t believe how deep and moist it is. The best fuck you’ll ever have.”

Tyler’s pants had already tented. He did something behind Connor that made Connor cry. Tyler lost the last shred of his self-control and quickly unbuttoned his jeans. He fought to get his underwear out of the way and when it didn’t work, he reached down and pulled the whole thing to his knees. Then he grabbed Connor by the shoulders and lined himself up.

Nines watched Connor’s face. He saw the exact moment Tyler breached him. Connor’s eyes squeezed shut and he tilted his head back in either pleasure or pain.

Tyler began pumping immediately. He was insatiable, panting and grunting obscenely while thrusting into Connor and saying, “As…you…can…see…our…updates…makes…it…behave…like…a…Traci. So if you have that nanny bot or pool boy you desperately like to fuck, now…you…can.”

He groaned so loudly it masked Connor’s next cry. Tyler was gripping Connor’s shoulders so hard he almost pulled Connor’s coat off. He was slamming into Connor like a jackhammer, trying to get as much friction and speed as possible. Nines couldn’t turn his eyes away. It was the first time he was watching someone being taken against their will and as much as he wanted to stop looking he couldn’t.

A number of things happened at once. Out of nowhere a chair was smashed over Tyler’s back with so much force it threw him past Connor and onto the middle of the circle. Tyler cried out, wrapping his arms around his torso and moaning, his jeans around his legs. Nines saw Hank appear behind Connor and press several buttons frantically on the machine. When neither of them did what he wanted, he just grabbed Connor and pulled at him. Connor screamed as he was pulled off his restraints and nearly crashed to the ground before Hank managed to catch him. Hank was brandishing a broken chair leg like a weapon to hold the onlookers off. The cheer and laughter had turned into gasps and screams, but no one was approaching the intruder or the victim. Men and women were standing back and watching with wide eyes as Hank slung Connor’s arm over his shoulder and attempted to drag him away.

He yelled at the crowd, “Step back and don’t move. This is the DPD. If you try to stop me I’ll get you arrested, you sick fucks.”

He stumbled but held his ground. Connor’s legs weren’t working right and Nines could see he had difficulty walking with his pants around his hips. Nines was unsure what he should do. He wanted to help but so far no one was stopping Hank from taking Connor away. Then he saw a group approaching from the other room, headed by Garry and one of the massive bouncers. He looked toward Hank who was busy helping Connor get properly dressed. Garry had a look on his face and the bouncer was cracking his knuckles. Hank didn’t stand a chance against them and considering he had already beaten one of them with a chair Nines doubted they would hesitate doing the same to him.

A beating would be generous. Hank had already told them he was a cop. There was no way they would let him leave now. What would they do to him? Could they kill a lieutenant in front of so many witnesses?

The crowd parted for Garry and his posse to come through and stand in front of Hank and Connor. Garry was showing a fake smile. He looked Hank up and down and said, “Well, well, well, we finally see your true colors, don't we Hank? Is this why you really came? All those stories about beating the tincan up were a lie?”

He gestured toward the bouncer who began walking toward Hank. Hank froze, trying to place himself in front of Connor when the bouncer grabbed him by the front of his shirt and almost lifted him off his feet. Hank choked and flailed but the man was immovable. Garry laughed and said, “Poor washed up cop. Don’t tell me you developed feelings for this thing. What happens if we tie you down and make you watch as this whole room takes a turn on it? Should we do that, guys?”

Hank kicked at the bouncer and the man dropped him. Before Hank could escape though the big guy snatched him by the back of the neck and slammed him into the arm of the assembly machine. Hank cried out and Nines lost it. His legs began to move. He began to run, and when he saw the bouncer’s fist go back to smash into Hank's head and likely break something, he was right there between them, grabbing the fist in his steel grip and crushing the man’s fingers like twigs. He threw the screaming bouncer to the side and turned to face the rest of Garry’s posse like the God of thunder, ready to bring down storm on anyone who dared to raise one more finger against Connor or the lieutenant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't know what's happening but this story never gets to the first page after I update. Perhaps that is why it doesn't get that many eyeballs on it, but I hope whoever reads this chapter leaves a comment to let me know it's not getting buried under the lack of bump. Thank you to all who leave kudos or comments. You guys are the best.
> 
> More coming next chapter. What is Nines going to do? Give me your theories.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nines must help Connor and Hank escape a sticky situation.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is one giant action scene. As some of you guessed in the previous chapter's comments, Nines kicks mighty ass. Unfortunately his opponents have a few surprises up their sleeves too.

For an RK900, the task of taking down a bunch of thugs was a walk in the park. Still Nines wasn’t letting his guard down, knowing he was dealing with hackers who, despite their ridiculous looks and antics, packed some mad skills under their belts. The bouncer and the rest of the goons were easy pickings. A quick preconstruction showed him how to deal with each one of them. But he had to keep an eye on Garry and Zeffania. They were the unpredictable ones.

“Would you look at that?” Garry said, turning his crooked smile on Nines. There was less amusement and more malice there. “The giant Pinocchio is a real boy, and wants to fight.”

Zeffania laughed. Nines imagined punching his remaining teeth out of his mouth.

‘Focus.’ He told himself. He couldn’t let them distract him. That was Garry was doing, trying to rile him up by talking trash and disrupting his concentration. Nines wouldn’t let him. He had Hank and Connor to worry about. Hank was getting on his feet, after being thrown around by the bouncer, and Connor was still on his knees. Neither was in good shape to escape by themselves.

He scanned the room. It took his processor three seconds to find the emergency exit. A balcony was behind a door that was painted like the rest of the wall and therefore almost invisible. A fire escape from that balcony to the ground. The door was locked but it was an easy lock to break for an android of Nine's strength. The only challenge was to get Connor and Hank to it.

Four muscle-bound men came at him at once, their intentions telegraphed by their movements so Nines had no problem preconstructing his response. He grabbed the first guy by the scruff the neck and held him directly in front of his own body so his friend, who was rushing at him, collided with the guy. Nines let them sort out their bleeding noses and injured heads before turning to the third guy, who was going for Connor. Two strides and he was in front of the man, punching him in the solar plexus and throwing him to a nearby drinks table. Bottles and glass shattered and the guests around it let out a collective cry. The forth man, trying to ambush him from behind, froze when Nines spun toward him without missing a beat. He kicked the man in the groin, then punched him in the head and rendered him unconscious.

He looked over at Hank and Connor. Hank had one of Connor’s arms draped over his shoulder and was helping him stand up. Nines called out to him, “Back of the room, near the empty chairs and the dead fern. There’s a door to a balcony that leads to a fire escape. We need to use it to get out of here.”

Hank looked in that direction and frowned. Nines didn’t blame him. To an untrained eye the door was not visible. He didn’t have time to explain his special vision to Hank. He had to watch Garry and Zeff, so he turned back to them and talked to Hank over his shoulder, “Just go. I’ll cover you. Once you’re there call me and I’ll break the lock on the door and let us out.”

Hank nodded and began helping Connor drag his feet. 

Nines saw Garry gesture toward Zeff. The smaller man gave an ominous nod and disappeared into the crowd in the first room. Nines wanted to follow him, but couldn’t leave Hank and Connor alone. Thankfully after his last show of power most of the guests had fled into the other room so the path to the balcony was more or less clear. Nines ran toward the door and grabbed the handle. As expected the lock was weak and the handle and lock both broke in one turn. When he opened the door, wind rushed at his face. They were so close. A few more steps and they would be out of here.

Unfortunately Hank was having a hard time getting Connor across the room. Connor’s legs didn’t work, probably due to something Tyler Cogan had done with his remote. Speaking of Tyler, the man was nowhere to be found. While Nines was distracted fighting the thugs, Tyler had disappeared somewhere and since he hadn’t been too badly injured, simply hit by a chair, Nines knew he was yet another factor in the shit equation he had to worry about.

He rushed to help Hank. The old man was tottering. The blow to his head must have done more damage than one could see. Nines made a mental note to call an ambulance as soon as he got his connection to the Internet back.

He grabbed Conner’s other arm and began walking him to the door. They had barely taken two steps when his sensors alerted him of a nearby danger. He let Connor go and quickly turned around.

The red haired Tracy, the one that had given Connor a blow job, stood at the opening between the two rooms. She was staring at him like a predator ready to pounce. Before he could preconstruct anything she came at him with speed he hadn’t witnessed outside combat models. She slammed her body into him and threw him across the room. He crashed into a row of chairs and fell on the ground, warnings messages flooding his vision. The Tracy stomped toward him, like a zombie, or a machine. ‘She’s hacked!’ he thought and struggled to get up.

As soon as he got to his feet he saw the other Tracy. She stood behind the redhead, and was the blonde who was being fucked from both ends on the table. She had looked so helpless then, but now her eyes glowed like her partner’s, and her hands were twisted into claws.

These weren’t Tracies. They were combat bots. The squad must have modded them to serve multiple purposes. That would explain their speed and agility. Nines and Hank had walked in here thinking they were the ones with a hidden weapon. Turns out Garry and his pals weren’t that stupid either and had their own secret bodyguards handy.

Hank stood next to Connor, who had completely collapsed to the floor. He was looking at the Tracies with fear in his eyes. Nines made a quick calculation. If the Tracies were equipped with combat modules they would focus on Nines and Connor and ignore the aging human with no gun. That would be their advantage. If Hank ran while Nines engaged the enemy he might be able to get away and alert the DPD. Maybe by then Nines would have defeated these two and snatched Connor. He would carry Connor outside just in time to meet the DPD.

That was a good plan, even though Nines knew Hank wouldn't like it. He rushed to Hank’s side and grabbed him around the waist, hoisted him over his shoulder and ran to the door. Hank yelled and kicked, calling for Connor, and telling Nines to put him down. Nines had no time for that bullshit. The blonde Tracy was coming after him. He needed to get Hank to safety, then counter the Tracy's attack before she could land a hit, or worse, do something to Connor. He reached the door, put Hank down, and turned toward the Tracy. This time he was ready and slammed the palm of his hand so hard into her face she was thrown back. The Tracy stumbled to the ground and thirium covered the lower half of her face. That gave Nines enough time to push Hank to the balcony and close the door. Since he had broken the lock earlier the door wouldn’t close. He had to hold it in place to keep the door shut and had to talk to Hank over his shoulder.

“Lieutenant, you need to go now. Run to the fire escape and-.”

“No way you overgrown piece of cheap plastic. I’m not leaving Connor in there with those psychos.”

“I will get him as soon as I’ve neutralized the Tracies. Please Lieutenant, you are our only hope. If you stay, you only risk your life. You will be of no help to me or Connor.”

Hank grumbled. The door began to rattle and Nines put more pressure on it.

“I can’t let them get to you, Lieutenant, and I can’t stay out here for long. Please go. Get help and call me once you alerted Gavin and the rest of the DPD. By then I’ll have Connor secured and making my way to your location.”

The door was beginning to crack open. Both Tracies were behind it now. It was only a matter of time before Nines’ strength would fail.

Hank nodded and sprinted toward the fire escape. Nines waited until he heard Hank’s boots hit the ground before letting go of the door and grabbing for the nearest Tracy. He used her momentum to fling her toward the edge of the balcony, then grabbed the collar of her dress and threw her over. She screamed and was out of sight before Nines turned toward the other one, the redhead. She took a step back inside the room and Nines smiled. With Hank out of the picture, and the enemy one android short, things were looking up for their side. He would incapacitate the Tracy quickly, get Connor, and perhaps even manage to catch up with Hank.

Inside, he and the Tracy seized each other up, then like fighters before a match, they began to circle one another. Nines ran three preconstructions and chose the one that didn’t deactivate the Tracy. He was feeling guilty over what he had done to the blonde. These androids were innocent. They had been brainwashed by the humans who used them as shields to hide behind.

In 0.8 seconds he executed the preconstruct and the Tracy went down. She didn’t even have time to counter attack when Nines slid under her legs and broke both her knees. She fell on her face but quickly rolled over and reached for Nines’ ankles. Nines, who thought he had won, quickly pulled one of his feet out of reach, but the other one got snared by the Tracy’s claw-like grip. She was strong and Nines found himself unable to move.

He was about to kick her in the head when a voice from the other side of the room drew his attention.

“Hey bucket-head. Look over here.”

He knew that voice. He knew it and it sent chills down his titanium frame. He looked up and saw Tyler Cogan towering over Connor’s prone form, a boot planted on Connor's chest, and a gun pointed at his face.

“Let up or your buddy will go bye bye,” Tyler said, wiggling the gun. He was bleeding from his temple where Hank’s had hit him with the chair. No longer did he look joyful or amused. He was angry, and smug, like he would blow Connor’s brains out if Nines didn’t obey.

Nines’ preconstruction went haywire, all scenarios ending in Connor getting killed one way or another. He cursed his oversight. He should have anticipated this. He had focused too much on the androids and forgotten about the humans. Now he knew the Tracies were only distractions. Tyler and the others had used them to retrieve their guns and come back to finish the job.

“Hey, Shit-head RK. I’m bleeding here thanks to your asshole handler. Take too long and I might do something horrible to dollface by accident. Think fast.” Tyler cocked the gun and brought it closer to Connor’s face.

There was no way out. Nines couldn’t move fast enough to prevent Tyler from pulling the trigger because the Tracy was holding on to his ankle. This fight was over no matter which plan he decided on. He couldn’t risk Connor’s life. This whole operation would be in vain if they lost him. Hank would be destroyed.

He raised his hands and locked them behind his head. Tyler didn’t move an inch from where he stood over Connor. Connor stared at the gun, a thin line of blue blood snaking from the corner of his mouth to his chin. The amount of hurt Connor had gone through during this ordeal was reason enough for Nines to spare him any more and give up, for now.

Garry appeared from behind Tyler, armed with a gun as well, and much angrier than his colleague. He shoved Nines to his knees and held the gun to Nines’ head, yelling behind him, “Zeff? You got that shit I asked you to? If you have then move your ass here so we could padlock this son-of-a-Bluetooth right now.”

Zeff rushed in and handed Garry something. Even he looked sober. It was the first time Nines saw that mouth without a grin or a smile.

Garry reached behind Nines’ neck and inserted something into his port. Nines’ system suddenly seized. Error messages and warning lines started crawling in his field of vision, too fast for him to read. The last one kept on blinking in rapid red, right before his eyes. “System Override, System Override.”

He looked up and saw Garry and Zeff’s slightly distorted faces. Ugly grins stretched their mouths and narrowed eyes looked down at him with sinister intent.

“How do you like that, boy? You’re our bitch now, just like your bro over there,” Garry said, looking over his shoulder at Connor, then back at Nines. He flexed his knuckles. “Zeff and I have a score to settle with you, for destroying our precious toys. Hey Zeff?”

Zeff's laugh sounded like a broken chainsaw. He said, “Go ahead, Gar. Show the piece of trash what he’s in for.”

Garry pulled his fist back. Nines instinctively moved his hand to block the punch, but his joints locked and his system malfunctioned. Helpless, he watched as Garry’s fist came at his face and collided with his cheek. Then…then the world splintered.

Something seared through his thirium lines, something that made him gasp and seize and lose his sight. A sense of crunching, pull, tightness and damage flared on the left side of his head. Fire. Agony.

Pain.

Pain!

He was feeling pain for the first time since coming off the production line.

Nines knew this because it had been simulated for him in one of the tests at CyberLife, to show him what humans felt when he caused them damage, and how he could use that weakness to his advantage. Androids were not supposed to feel pain. It wasn’t built into them, yet it was the only thing Nines could feel and focus on right now.

“You like that tin-can? That’s what the chip does to you. Like I said, you’re our bitch now and we’re going to show you what we mean in this business. It’s your fault for trying to be smart. Now you’ll hurt, like your brother did. Zeff and I will make sure you never forget this lesson.”

They beat him then, and didn’t stop until his optical units glitched and his central processor blacked out. He fell to the ground and the last thing he saw was Connor, trapped under Tyler’s boot, his eyes mirroring the helplessness and despair Nines felt inside.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The amazing Brilcrist drew a series of pictures that inspired the last part of this chapter. A few of them are spoilers for the next chapter. Check out their work here: <https://brilcrist.tumblr.com/post/177673151609/i-need-a-good-dose-of-angst-hc-when-a-mission>
> 
> Comments and kudos are appreciated. Please give them to me. I'm just a lonely writer who likes to hurt my babies.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin and Hank try to pick up the pieces after the traumatic events of the night. Nines finally gets to talk to Connor.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tina and Nines have no dialogue in the whole game, yet this chapter is entirely from their point of view, which proves how evolved this fandom is that both of them have such distinct personalities.
> 
> As mentioned in the previous chapter, Nines and Connor's dilemma is depicted in these wonderful images by Brilcrist which inspired this writing: <https://brilcrist.tumblr.com/post/177673151609/i-need-a-good-dose-of-angst-hc-when-a-mission>

Tina turned back to her computer and sighed. Night shift sucked when nothing was happening and everyone was hopped up on coffee and donuts. She wasn’t one of them though. Miriam, God bless her soul but slap her up the butt, had decided to go on a 30 day cleanse program and insisted Tina joined her so they'd do it as a couple. And so Tina was now in this situation, bored, foggy, and low on sugar.

Her phone chirped. Who could it be at – she looked at the clock on the wall – 11:30 pm? She picked it up from the desk and checked the caller ID while drinking the vile, greenish sludge Miriam had packed for her.

Gavin? At 11:30 pm? On a night he wasn’t even on duty?

“Hello?” she said, hoping the smidge of crank she injected into her voice deterred him, if he was drunk-dialing her from a bar.

“Tina,” his whispered reply came, almost inaudible. Why in the world was Gavin whispering?

“Gavin? What’s going on? You ok?”

He didn’t answer and suddenly Tina was on full alert. This behavior was very atypical for Gavin.

“Talk to me,” she said, “What is wrong?”

“I – I fucked up. Fucked up royally.” He sounded dazed, like he was trying not to fall asleep, or had just woken up. Tina stood up from her chair.

“Where are you, Gav? Do you want me to send you a car? Are you in trouble? Are you injured, or incapacitated?” She was in professional mode now, mind going through all the possibilities, trying to remember protocol and training, but having a hard time because it was Gavin for fuck’s sake.

Gavin finally seemed to wake up. In a much clearer voice he said, “No, no. No patrol cars, no officers. I’m ok. It’s—damn, it’s not me.” His voice faltered again. This was worse than Tina had imagined.

“If it's not you, then who?” she asked, then was overwhelmed with anxiety. “Nines?”

Gavin actually sobbed, or it sounded like he did. He said, “I fucked up, T. I don’t know what happened. I don’t even know where they are.”

Wait a minute, they? Who were 'they?'

Deciding she’d had enough, Tina gathered her stuff and said, “Tell me where you are Gav, and I’ll come pick you up. Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone. I’ll come in my car. Just stay put and don’t do anything. You think you can do that?”

“Uh-huh,” Gavin said. Good enough, Tina decided. She hung up, grabbed her coat and keys from her desk, and walked toward the parking. The night had just gone from zero to 100.

––––

She ended up bringing Chris along. She didn’t know what she would be facing and wanted to have him there, just in case. Also because the three of them usually did most shit together.

She was surprised when Gavin gave her his apartment address as his location. Her surprise grew when they arrived there and nothing seemed out of the ordinary. Gavin buzzed them up and opened the door, before heading back to his computer and sitting down in the chair. 

The look on Gavin’s face set Tina’s teeth on edge. He looked like someone had run over his cat. He didn’t even look at them when they followed him into his living room. His cheeks were flushed and his hair was messed up, like he had run his hands through it many times. If Tina didn’t know better she would have guessed he was dumped by his boyfriend. But she knew better, and this was worse than any breakup.

She sat on the couch, facing him. Chris stayed by the living room door and leaned his shoulder against the wall.

“Gavin?” Tina said, “Can you tell us what happened?”

Gavin breathed in, then began talking in such a rush Tina had a hard time following. She was grateful Chris always carried a notepad and had the superhuman ability to pull it out on the fly and take notes.

Still, even as Gavin’s somber tale of undercover sting operations and secret anti-android groups ended Tina couldn’t shake off the thought that this was all an elaborate prank. What date was today? Anywhere close to April 1st? Could Gavin be filming them for a juvenile social media post in hopes of raking in views?

“Where are Hank and Nines now?” Christ asked from behind her.

Gavin closed his eyes and said, “I don’t know. I told you, I lost contact with them as soon as they got in the car.”

Anger overcame Tina and she said, “Why would you do such a stupid thing? Two experienced detectives, a state of the art combat android, and you don’t have a single, rational brain-cell between you?”

Gavin dropped his head in his hands. Tina felt a little sorry for him, but only a little. The idiot had been right. He fucked up.

Gavin said in a nasal voice, “What could I do? The old man and the tin-can insisted. I couldn’t say no. They wanted to save Connor.”

Tina folded her arms on her chest. “You could have called us. You should have talked to the rest of the DPD. Captain Fowler could have authorized a rescue mission. Neither of you should have gone off and done it on your own.”

She felt Chris’ hand on her shoulder and calmed down. What was done, was done. Not much of a surprise for Gavin, but Nines and Hank were a mystery. Guess desperation made the wisest men – and androids – do dumb things.

“Can you tell us their last known location?” Chris said, still taking notes.

“Southfield, the suburbs. The car they got into was a Ram Classic Crew Cab.”

“That’s not much help,” Tina said, “I doubt they’re in the car anymore.”

Gavin slammed his fist on the desk. His cat got scared and ran under the couch between Tina’s feet.

“Of course they aren’t,” Gavin said, “The whole plan was to find out where they’d take them, and I screwed it up.”

“Doesn’t sound like you did,” Chris said, looking at his notes, “If what Hank found out about these guys is true, they must have jammed your signal. It’s not beyond imagination for them to predict someone would try to monitor their activities and have some safeguards in place.”

Good point. Tina saw it dawn on Gavin’s face too. He said, “I just can’t stomach the idea of what they might be doing to Nines. These bastards _hate_ androids. You didn’t see the video they made. They…they made Connor…he was in pain, real pain. They tortured him, T. Zapped him over and over with massive volts of electricity.”

Tina’s gut twisted. She avoided cases like that for a reason. Murder and theft she could deal with. Torture and mutilation? Not so much.

All the better that Chris had taken charge at the moment. “What about Hank?” he asked, “Do you think he’s in any danger? Even if they snatch Nines, do you think they might let Hank leave?”

“I don’t know. I don’t know,” Gavin pushed his hands into his hair again. “Hank has a cellphone. Why hasn’t he called yet?”

Tina rolled her eyes. This was one of the precinct’s top detectives, and he asked such a question. She said, “Think! If they put technology in place to scramble Nines' feed, they must have taken Hank’s cell away, right?”

Gavin nodded and removed his hands from his head. He let his arms hang between his knees, utterly defeated.

Tina looked at her watch. Ten minutes past midnight. It was too early to decide whether or not Hank and Nines were in trouble. For all they knew the two of them were going along with the undercover mission and biding their time to escape.

“Let’s wait and see if either of them calls,” said Chris, echoing her thoughts. “I don’t think we should prematurely panic. Both of them are skilled field operatives who know their job well and have each other for backup. Let’s settle down, have some coffee, and wait a few hours to see if anything comes up.”

Gavin nodded again, stood up and went to the kitchen to make the coffee. Tina reached under the couch and grabbed the cat. She sat back and put the cat in her lap, getting ready for a long, stressful night.

–––––

The call came four hours later. Despite them all knowing something had gone wrong when hour after hour passed, Gavin begged Tina and Chris not to put out an APB, in hopes things would work out without anyone outside their private circle finding out about their stunt.

That hope was dashed when both Tina and Chris received a call at 4:15 am, about one Lieutenant Hank Anderson being found unconscious on a stretch of road connecting downtown Detroit to the industrial district. According to the dispatcher, the lieutenant was taken to a hospital for concussion and minor injuries. As soon as they got the info Tina, Gavin, and Chris headed to the hospital.

The doctor told them Hank was in stable condition but was kept at the hospital to be monitored until the next day . Gavin all but demanded to see him and after a bit of back and forth, the doctor agreed, on the condition they do not agitate the patient and that only two of them went in. Chris sat in a plastic chair in the waiting room with a cup of vending machine coffee and a magazine, while Gavin and Tina followed the doctor to Hank’s room.

Hank looked worn out, like he had aged ten years overnight. He was paler than usual, with a large bruise peeking from under his head bandage and more bruising around his neck. He was on a drip feed since, according to the doctor, he was severely dehydrated and in a lot of pain. His eyes however were bright and alert, and he turned toward them as soon as they walked into the room.

Gavin didn’t wait for the older man to speak. He rushed to his bed and said, “What happened? Where is Nines?”

Hank lifted a shaky hand to his forehead and his expression became troubled, as if he was struggling to remember. “I—I don’t know.”

Gavin threw his hands up. “What do you mean you don’t know? Answer me, you bastard, where is my partner?”

Hank looked up at him, hate and guilt warring on his face. “I told you prick, I don’t know. He shoved me out and told me to go get help while he went to rescue Connor.” His eyes went wide and the heart monitor attached to him beeped faster. “Connor! I remember now. We found Connor in that place. But I can’t tell where that was. I got lost on the way back.”

Gavin slapped the mattress, his voice rising in volume, “You left him there? You left Nines in the hands of those crazy hackers who like to torture androids? What is wrong with you?”

Hank yelled back, “What was I supposed to do? They took our weapons. That ogre bouncer hit me in the head. I could barely walk. Then two terminator Tracies came at us and Nines said I would be in the way, so yes, I left.”

Gavin was gearing up for a response when Hank dropped his head in his hands and let out a whine so full of pain it stunned Gavin. In the silence that followed, Hank said, “Connor. I left him. Those bastards were raping him, right before my eyes. I couldn’t do anything. I just left him there.”

Tina sat in the chair next to the bed and put her hand on Hank’s arm. Time to deescalate this situation and give the poor man a break. “Tell us what happened, from the beginning,” she said.

Hank collected himself long enough to recount the night, from the moment they lost contact with Gavin to when Nines helped him escaped. It was a horrific tale of ritualistic abuse and physical and sexual violence. Tina prayed she wouldn’t have to be the one to tell Markus about it, not just because it involved his people – for whom he had fought for so long and was still struggling to give them justice – but because it involved Connor.

Gavin had collapsed on a chair on the other side of the room and looked as defeated as Hank sounded. Tina felt bad for both of them. She was devastated about the horrific details, but none of it was as personal to her as it was for them. She couldn’t even imagine how the two of them were feeling.

Gavin said, “What do we do now?”

Hank shook his head, looking down at his Hands, “I don’t know. They could be anywhere. Without a tracker we can’t hope to find them.”

Gavin rolled his eyes and looked at the wall, speaking in frustration and an exhausted voice, “Both of them are deviants, so no trackers. Great!”

“Even if they weren’t deviants these guys would have blocked them. You didn’t see what they could do. This guy – this shit-stain of a human called Tyler – had invented a remote control that made androids his slaves, like the brainless machines he wanted them to be. It was disgusting.”

“We should tell Captain Fowler,” Tina said.

Both men looked at her like she had grown a second head. She looked back defensively. “What? You went behind DPD’s back like naughty boys and now you want Connor and Nines to pay for it? Nope, no, none of that. From now on we do things my way. If you want to help those androids, you have to stop acting like your job security is more important than their lives. You have to get help.”

Both guys dropped their heads. Gavin said in a strangled voice, “Fine. I don’t care if I get suspended, or even fired, as long as I get Nines back. I don’t want him in those guys’ hands another second. Do what you have to do.”

Tina looked at Hank and seeing him nod, she stood up and went outside to make the call.

———

For a combat model such as Nines, being tied up was a strange feeling, but not as strange as the fiery sensation going up and down his limbs. ‘Pain,’ they had called it. What Nines was feeling was pain, a feeling not originally coded in his system, but a product of the virus that had infected, him through the chip the criminals plugged into his neck port. He understood now, why Connor had cried so loudly in that video. The experience was incomparable to anything his mind could conjure, nor could he research and learn about it on the net. It was agony, anxiety, an alarm that wouldn’t stop until he got away from the source of whatever was causing it.

After the trio beat him up at the warehouse, they took him and Connor to an unknown location while they were both tied up and incapacitated. The place they were in right now looked like a storage room (how many of these did the cultists own? They couldn’t all belong to the the leaders.) Nines was sitting on the ground, tied up with some nylon cord that dug into his plastimetal and made that newly gained ‘pain’ feeling much much worse. As miserable as he was however he was lucky compared to Connor. His little brother was nearly paralyzed, like a doll with broken strings. His kidnappers carried him around everywhere and dumped him wherever they wanted him. At least Nines could walk. Connor looked like he had lost his motor function and will to live. He lay on the ground on his side looking at nothing.

Nines was so worried about Connor he wasn’t even thinking about ways to escape. Even if his systems hadn’t been scrambled by the virus, it was impossible for him to preconstruct anything that included Connor. Nines couldn’t both carry his brother and fight off the combat bots they might send his way. Much like the time at the party, Connor was Nines' Achilles heel. Nines couldn’t leave him, or take him along, so he had to stay put.

Perhaps he should talk to Connor though.

There was no network connection so they had to talk the old fashioned way, like humans, using their vocal cords.

Nines leaned slightly over and said, “Connor? Connor, can you hear me?”

Connor jolted awake and slowly, painfully, looked up. He blinked a few times, like he had just come out of standby mode, and said, “Nines? Is that you? I though you were… some other RK900.”

“It’s me. Didn't you see Hank? We both came for you.”

“Hank?” Connor’s eyes widened, like he just remembered. “But that was them, wasn't it? They made me see Hank to…to humiliate me. I thought you both were projections.”

Nines shook his head. “We came for you. Hank found out about their group and he, Gavin, and I made a plan to get you out. We’re still on it, if you will believe me. Hank is out there trying to get help. And I’m here, protecting you.”

He wondered how much of that Connor would believe, seeing as Nines was bound and helpless sitting on the ground next to him. But Connor didn’t mention it, or perhaps he was too dazed to notice. A weak smile appeared on Connor’s face and he said, “Thank you Nines. For coming for me. I thought no one would. I didn’t want Markus to do the things they asked of him. I knew he wouldn’t. But then…I thought that meant no one would come.”

That pain thing gripped Nines' thirium pump and squeezed his chest hard. It was awful, thinking his brother had given up hope like that, to believe even his boyfriend wouldn’t care enough to come and save him.

“Markus really worried about you,” Nines said in a warm, reassuring voice, “He was the one who put together the plan that led to Hank finding Garry. If it weren’t for him and North we would have never come into contact with these guys.”

Connor’s smile widened. He blinked a few times, then closed his eyes and a long shiver traveled through his body. He once again opened his eyes and said, “So you all…you’ve been looking for me? All this time?”

Nines couldn’t hug his brother as much as he wanted to, but he could lean sideways so he could be close to his ear and whisper comfortingly. “Yes Connor, we all were. Hank lost weight during the time your were gone. Gavin and I worked double shifts. And Markus…, well Markus called the station so many times Captain gave him a warning. He is going to raise hell once he hears from Hank what they did to you and those Tracies.”

Connor’s cheeks turned a shade of blue, making Nines regret the last line he said. Connor’s eyelashes fluttered close, and he said, in a quiet, desperate voice, “Please don’t tell Markus about that. I can’t stand it. I r-raped that poor Traci. I feel dirty.”

Nines pulled back. What in the hell? How could Connor not understand he was the victim here?

He said, “Connor, listen to me.”

The brown eyes opened and Connor stared at Nines like a lost child. Nines made sure he kept eye contact with him the entire time, and he said the words slowly and measuredly, “You did nothing wrong. The ones who are guilty are Garry, Tyler, and that toothless guy. They forced you to do it. You couldn't fight back, neither of us could. So stop beating yourself up and start focusing on gaining your strength so we could plan an escape.”

Connor’s smile returned, but it was sad. “I don’t think I can escape,” he said, bitterly, “The virus has integrated itself into my system. It has overwritten most of my basic programing. Tyler keeps hooking me up to his computer every time he takes me to his place, but even he admitted last time that the virus had advanced too far. That’s probably why they wanted you. I’m useless to them now. They’re probably going to deactivate and discard me and start working on you.”

Horror ran down Nines' body. Was that something they had told Connor? That they would throw him in a landfill once he was no longer useful?

“I will not let that happen,” he said forcefully, then leaned forward again and very quietly spoke in Connor’s ear, in case their captors had microphones in the room. “They can’t have me that easily. This virus might be advanced, but my model is equipped with an anti-hack system CyberLife invented during the deviancy conflict. CyberLife scientists thought deviancy was a virus that Markus had spread throughout the android population. In order to prevent it infecting the next RK models, they created a very sophisticated anti-virus subroutine that would undo a virus even after it finds its way into our system. Of course it was useless against deviancy because that’s something that happens naturally in our programs. But this foreign virus stands no chance against it and as soon as I’m connected to a network where I can upgrade my systems, I am going to run it and see what it can do.”

A lot of that was exaggeration to make Connor feel hopeful again. The subroutine’s existence was true, but it wasn't part of Nines' code yet. He knew it was an update for the RK900 on CyberLife's cloud network, which was why he needed to connect to it in order to get the program. He would bide his time and jump on any opportunity that presented itself when their captors got sloppy and made a mistake. Once he got the anti-virus, if he could get rid of the parts that blocked his combat subroutines, he could take out all these humans, break their restraints, and get himself and Connor out.

They heard a door open on the far end of the room. Footsteps echoed in the cold, vast storage space. Nines counted the feet coming toward them and discovered that three people were now in the room with them. The unholy trinity had arrived, likely to survey the reward of their latest conquest and continue with their vile schemes. Nines shuffled his body in front of Connor, trying to shield him from the incoming villains. A light switch clicked on and the room flooded with bright, acidic light. From behind the shelves that made up the perimeter of Nines and Connor's prison space, Garry’s baritone preceded him like a bad omen .

“Well, well, well. Looks like our high-end appliances are fully charged and ready to use. And we do have uses for them, don't we boys? Am I right, or am I right?”

Zeffania’s laugh was pure poison in Nines' ears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh no, what will happen? Will Hank, Gavin, and the others be able to save the RK brothers?
> 
> Comments and kudos are appreciated.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nines protects Connor. Gavin has a surprise for everyone.

Garry, Zeffania, and Tyler rounded the shelves and came into Nines' view. They wore the same outfits as they did at the party, but were armed. Their guns didn’t bother Nines as much as the remote in Tyler’s hand did.

The men stood in a semi-circle in front of the captive androids, prompting Nines to shuffle further in front of Connor to protect him from their malicious stares.

“Look at you,” Garry said, raking his eyes over Nines, “All tied up in a bow and ready to be gifted. My ex-wife once gave me a wireless adapter for my birthday. You remind me of that.”

He and Zeffania laughed. Tyler didn’t. He looked the complete opposite of his cheerful party persona. On his back, the edge of a large bruise peeked above the collar of his shirt. His lip was busted too. Nines felt a swell of satisfaction, knowing Hank at least gave half as good as he got, despite these jackasses holding all the advantages.

Garry walked forward and grabbed Nines’ face. He turned Nines’ head this way and that as if checking for defects. “Not bad, not bad. I see CyberLife didn’t hold back splurging on this one. It looks a lot sturdier than the prototype. Might last longer.”

“Yeah that one was shite!” Zeffania piped up. He was digging something out from between his teeth, his finger all the way into his mouth.

Nines looked away. His eyes fell on Connor who lay still behind him, eyes focused ahead.

If these guys dared to touch a hair on his brother’s head Nines would skin them alive, then use their skin as a sack to bag their stinky meat.

RA9, he was beginning to sound like Gavin.

“Are we going to finally talk about the elephant in the room or continue to kumbaya around it?” Tyler asked, scratching his back.

Garry and Zef stopped smiling. Garry in particular didn’t seem to like his colleague’s interruption into his kumbaya and said, “And what’s the elephant, Ty? Please enlighten us.”

Tyler rubbed his scalp and said, “I dunno. The fact that someone from the DPD, who knows our faces and names, escaped from the warehouse and is most likely babbling everything he saw to the rest of his colleagues?”

Garry waved his hand dismissively and went back to inspecting Nines. “I wouldn’t worry too much about it. The guy was a wash-up. He told me so himself. They took his gun and badge. They’ll probably think he got drunk and hallucinated the whole thing.”

Tyler scoffed. “Yeah, he’s a badgeless dick alright. The fact that you seriously believe that, or any of the bullshit he told you while undercover, makes me shake my head so hard my neck screws are loose.”

Garry let go of Nines and turned to Tyler, hands on his hips. “What should we to do, huh? You want us to hide from an old man? Call off the operation? Scrap these two so your fluttering heart would stop beating scared?”

Zeffania stepped between the two and moved his hands up and down, like a bird taking flight. He said, “Guys, guys. Don’t fight, ok? We’re all friends here, am I right, or am I right?”

He turned to Tyler. “Ty, buddy. You’re worried over nothing. The old fart can’t prove shit. Warehouse is clean. Garry’s place is clean. Truck’s spotless. Those are the only places he’s been,” he threw his skinny arms up in the air, “What’s the old coot gonna do? Bring his big brother to the fight?”

Tyler rolled his eyes. “Fine, do whatever. Who cares if this thing,” pointing at Nines, “was recording everything and sending it to the DPD? When they come knocking on your door Gar, I’ll be far far away, in Canada.”

Garry groaned. “Are you daft? We cripple-jammed it. How was it supposed to send anything without a network?”

That seemed to convince Tyler a little. He scratched his bruised back again, found a crate, and sat down. Garry walked toward him and rubbed him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, pal. It’ll be all right. I’ll stay away from the house for a couple of weeks if that makes you happy. I’ll tell the neighbors I’m going on vacation, would have to anyways, considering the work I’ll have to do on the rig for the new tin-can.” He looked at Nines and sneered. “You like that tin-can? You’ll be the new star of our show. Gonna turn you nuclear, unleash you on your chums.”

Before Nines could reply Tyler said, “About that plan, what's it again? What are we going to do with this thing?”

“Something different than the other one. Robojesus is not biting, so we’ll have to go to plan B.”

“Which is?”

“Upload the Kaiser daemon onto this one and let him loose on the community. We tweak it so it would infect every tin-can it comes into contact with, then remote control all of them.”

Zeffania looked at Garry confused. “Wow, Gar. Would that even work?”

Tyler shook his head. “Yeah, really, wow. You definitely got it. Tell me, how are we going to tweak the daemon so it would transfer to another robot without them arm-fucking each other? You even thought about that?”

Garry said, “We’ll figure it out. I’ll contact Goose. He’s been working on it for a while. We’ll take the tin-can to him, set up the rig in his basement. It might take a couple of weeks, which is perfect for your worried heart because we’ll all be out of Detroit and in the hinterlands.”

“Sounds super. What are we going to do with that one?” Tyler said, pointing at Connor.

“Scrap it,” Garry said, “We got everything we wanted from it. It’s a trash prototype now we have the actual model. Take it to the yard and throw it in the compactor.”

Nines’ processors froze. He looked at Connor and saw his brother’s eye were closed. Connor had predicted this. He knew he was going to be destroyed once the criminals had no more use for him, and it horrified Nines that by being there and getting captured, he had hastened that outcome.

Tyler stood up from the crate and said, “Sure! I’ll take him to the scrapyard. I’m tired of his ass anyway.”

Zeffania snorted and said, “Ys sure? Cause you’ve been fucking his ass more times than you fucked the Tracies.”

Tyler spun toward him, eyes blazing. “What was that, beanpole? Are you calling me a fag?”

“Nah, I’m calling you a plastiphile. You like to fuck plastic.” Zeffania laughed hysterically.

Tyler pounced on him and punched him in the mouth.

“Augh, mother fu—,” Zeffania cried and bent over, holding his chin.

“Children, stop!” Garry whined, “What did I do to deserve such idiots? Ty, take the piece of junk to the compactor. Make sure its processors and memory chips are completely crushed. The last thing we want is for the DPD to scrap it and squeeze recorded evidence out of it. Zef and I will upload the Zombie daemon onto the other one and take it to Goose.”

Tyler wiped his busted lip and turned toward Connor.

He barely took two steps before Nines intercepted him. He was on his knees and bound, but he did his best to look intimidating.

“Touch him and you'll die,” he said.

Tyler threw up his hands and stepped back. He pulled the remote out of his pocket and – while swearing under his breath – pressed a button that made Nines burn up. He fell on his side and groaned. The heat was searing his frame and licking up and down his synthetic skin. Even though he knew it was only a sensation, and that he wasn’t really on fire, he panicked that his circuits were melting.

Tyler pressed the button again, turning the heat off and letting Nines hyperventilate on the ground. He walked toward Connor and grumbled to himself. “Cocky piece of shit. Still doesn’t know its place.”

Nines fought to get enough air to speak. He turned to Garry and Zef and said, “You don’t…want to… do this. I have a… security… protocol. Anti-virus. It will…render your…plan…useless as soon as… I connect to… the cloud.”

Tyler had lifted Connor by the scruff of his neck and was going to put him over his shoulder when he turned and looked at Nines. Connor yelled, “Nines don’t. Don’t tell them anything, please.”

That got Garry’s attention. Nines could see it in the way the guy’ eyes shifted to Tyler. He raised a hand for Tyler to stop, then turned to Nines and said, “What the fuck did you just say? Anti-virus?”

Nines sat up. His CPU was a mess and his joints kept locking. His body wasn’t used to so many sensations piled on top of each other in a short time.

He said, “CyberLife has equipped my model with a safety measure, an anti-virus that will upload and override your daemons as soon as you connect me to a network. When that happens I'll break free and kill you all, unless…” He turned and looked meaningfully at Connor.

“Bullshit,” Garry scoffed, “You’re trying to pull one over us? What's this nonsense? Zef, verify.”

Zeffania pulled out a tablet from somewhere and quickly tapped on it. He scrolled through a screen and said, “Gar, hate to break it to ya, but it looks like Dickwad is right. I used your old login and,” he turned the tablet toward Garry. Nines recognized CyberLife’s secure intranet page and the information on Zeta64X, the anti-virus the company had developed against deviancy.

“It’s a subroutine too,” Zeffania added, scrolling, “Meaning Dickwad can evolve it, and give it to the others. If we connect Dickwad to the network, we’re fucked.”

“Shit,” Garry said, and turned to Tyler. “Change of plans. Take the prototype to your bachelor’s pad, and make sure it keeps ticking. I don’t care what else you do with it as long as it remains functional. It's our insurance against this one, because this piece of shit seems to care about it.”

He bent down and spoke directly into Nines’ face, “You hear that tin-can? We’re taking you someplace where we have to connect you to the fucking network. If you so much as dip a toe into CyberLife’s cloud I’ll message Tyler to take your old pal apart limb by limb, _while_ his pain sensors are on. You get me?”

Nines stared straight into Garry’s eyes and didn’t answer. He wished he was free and could rip the man’s head off. He heard Tyler lift Connor and begin carrying him away. His panic got the best of him and he yelled, “You will not harm him. If you do anything to him I will kill everyone and burn your entire operation down.”

Garry slapped him hard in the face, shocking him out of his concentration. He would never get used to feeling pain no matter how many times he experienced it.

“You answer to me, shit bucket,” Garry said, “Tyler will keep the prototype in one piece but only if you do everything we tell you, including keeping your trap shut. You know who we are, and what we can do. Try pulling one over us and you’ll never see the prototype again. We’ll make sure his deactivation is the subject of horror movies.”

Zeffania laughed and said, “Terminator, remember? They threw the Dickwad in the lava. T’was awesome.”

“Shut up, Zef,” Garry said without taking his eyes off Nines. “Do we understand each other?” he asked Nines.

Nines looked in the direction Tyler had gone with Connor. His chest tightened. He had lost his trump card but he had to protect Connor at all cost. The idea of these monsters torturing and killing his brother was unthinkable. He had to trust Gavin to come to their rescue and focus on keeping both of them alive until that happened.

“I understand,” he said, and allowed Zeffania to untie him and walk him to their truck.

———

“I can’t believe my experienced detectives would do such a thing,” Captain Fowler yelled at the room.

Gavin dropped his head and pretended he didn’t want to smash the glass wall just to hear it shatter and rain. His life had turned into a circus ever since he lost contact with Nines, complete with dancing monkeys and noisy ringleaders. What irked him the most was that this stupid idea, that Jeffery was now scolding him for, wasn’t his in the first place. He vividly remembered punching Hank in the face for suggesting it. Yet because Nines insisted, and because Gavin was weak when it came to the plastic shit and couldn’t say no to him, here he was. Sitting in Jeffery’s office, being yelled at for something he didn’t want to do and would probably regret for the rest of his career no matter the outcome.

Jeffery had called him, Tina, and Chris into his office first thing in the morning, after Tina’s call. They had Hank on speakerphone since he was still at the hospital being checked for concussion. Gavin had wanted to punch Hank in the face again for leaving Nines behind and that feeling hadn’t abated.

After Captain Fowler finished yelling at them he stood behind his desk and said, “We need to come up with a plan. This case now takes precedent over all of our other cases as it involves the confirmed kidnapping of two of our own. Markus should be informed of the details since more than just his personal relationship with Connor is at stakes,” he looked over Chris’ notes, the ones he had already read before calling them into his office, and said, “What am I saying? Of course Markus was part of your little stunt because you ran off and told him instead of obeying me and staying at home.” He yelled the last bit into the speaker phone, clearly for Hank.

Hank’s tired voice came from the speaker, “Jeffery, stop busting my balls. I said I fucked up, but it’s your fault too. If you hadn’t taken my badge—.”

Jeffery became thunderous. Cutting Hank off and yelling into the phone, “Did I just hear you blame me for your fuck up, Hank? I took your badge, because I ordered you to _stay at home._ ”

Hank tried to speak but Jeffery yelled over him. “You need to be put on a leash. I can’t believe I’m still doing this. You were so much better after Connor straightened you up but now I see he was just a band aid. We’re going to address this issue – and your disciplinary record – after this case if over. For now , I need you to listen carefully, because I won’t say this again. You are officially _off_ this case, Hank. I hear or see you anywhere near an agent assigned to this case, I swear to God, I will fire you. Understood?”

Gavin felt weak in his boots. He’d never seen the captain so mad and he thanked the stars Hank was the main target of his anger. It didn’t mean he’d be spared but at least Fowler would be less loaded when he finally turned his attention to him.

On a separate note, he thought he understood why the captain was upset. Even while keeping his front very professional, Fowler had felt the weight of losing their first official android detective – and a prominent face of the revolution – during the past several weeks. Aside from the bad publicity, the worry and compassion Fowler had for Connor, and the stress he felt after watching his ransom video, must have gotten to him. To now turn around and hear that two of his detectives – one of whom he had suspended – went behind his back and lost the second android detective on the force, must have been infuriating. Suddenly, Gavin wanted to crawl under a rock. He wouldn’t be too outraged if, after finishing with Hank, the captain delivered a tongue lashing to him.

Fowler instead sat down and put his head in his hands. “All right,” he said, “We need to get to business. Two of our people are kidnapped. That’s unprecedented for the DPD. Regardless whether the kidnapped officers are human or android, they are my responsibility. So if anyone has any ideas on how to proceed, now’s a good time to present them.”

Gavin had an idea. The same damn idea that had been poking his mind since Hank came to them with his proposal. Back then he saw himself between a rock and a hard place, not wanting to share his suggestion, yet not too psyched over Hank’s either. Now, he felt like the rock had smashed him over the head and splattered him all over the hard place.

_What do you have to lose that you haven’t already lost? Just tell them._

But the implication…, the mental anguish he would suffer…seventeen years of trying to forget…

“No one?” Fowler asked, “Fine, let’s go over the facts then.”

Could it be worth it? Could Gavin survive seeing _him_ again?

Slowly he raised his head and croaked, “I have an idea.”

_Damn you Nines. Damn your eyes, your toned body, your square jaw. You’ve wormed yourself into my worn-out heart so deep, you keep making me do things I never thought I’d do before. You’ll be the death of me._

“Yes, Detective Reed?” the Captain asked.

“I—thought that maybe we could talk to Elijah Kamski.”

“The former head of CyberLife? That Elijah Kamski?” the Captain said, raising his eyebrows. 

Gavin bit his lip, and said in a small voice, “Yes.”

“And how do you suggest we convince him to come out of his retirement again to help us on another case, without making him think we’re using him as an unpaid investigator?”

“I’ll convince him,” Gavin said.

The captain folded his arms over his chest and said, “What was that? Please speak up, Detective Reed?”

Gavin took a deep breath and said, louder this time, “I’ll convince him.”

“How?”

A small voice inside Gavin begged him, _don’t, don’t say it, don’t open that door. It’ll get to Nines, and your relationship with him will change_ _forever_ _._

“I’m waiting for your answer, Detective Reed!”

Gavin straightened in his seat and, without looking at anyone, said, “Elijah Kamski is…my half-brother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I saw the idea of Kamski being Gavin's brother or half-brother is some of the stories in the fandom and thought it was a neat addition to Gavin's (completely fanon) backstory. It's somewhat important to the plot of this story even though I'm not going to go too deeply into it.
> 
> Thanks to all who left kudos and especially comments. You're the ones keeping this story alive.


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